
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, j 

ChapISS^ Copyright No._ 

Shelf., 

-K 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, j 
























































ABOVE THE RANGE. 








HE DREW A PISTOL FROM HIS BELT AND FIRED IT INTO THE AIR. 


ABOVE THE RANGE 


A STORY FOR GIRLS. 



THEODORA R. JTENNESS. 


ILLUSTRATED BY GEORGE GIBBS. 



BOSTON, U. S. A. 

W. A. WILDE & COMPANY, 

25 BROMFIELD STREET. 





COPYRIGHT, 1896, 

W. A. WILDE & COMPANY. 
All rights reserved. 


ABOVE THE RANGE 


CONTENTS 


( 


CHAP. PAGE. 

I. The Bunch-grass Party . 9 

II. A White Captive.23 

III. Great-grandmother’s Ghost-lock.34 

IV. The Tattoo Artist.49 

V. Lilian’s Joy.58 

VI. Clark’s Disclosure.68 

VII. Myths ..81 

VIII. Fasting.95 

IX. The Doughnut Raid . 108 

X. The Young Military Lady .• 123 

XI. Resolutions.140 

XII. Mourning Gifts.153 

XIII. Gipsying.172 

XIV. Hieroglyphics.190 

XV. The Mystery Feast.208 

XVI. An Anti-Indian Act.219 

XVII. A Civilized Entertainment.234 

XVIII. Playing Stage-coach.252 

. XIX. Lilian’s Pursuit.271 

XX. Clark’s Ordeal.285 

XXI. Alphonso.300 

XXII. Good-night and Good-by. *314 

































































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ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE. 

He drew a pistol from his belt and fired it into the air. 

Frontispiece. 24'^ 

Katy, Jane, and Hester wedged against the door to guard 

against intrusion. 64 

Colonel Mayo examined a gaily colored war bonnet . . . 124^ 

Mario appeared upon his bronco brilliantly arrayed ... 178 

Big Eagle now rode slowly up and made a brief speech to 

the two men. 218 



















































































































































































































































































































































ABOVE THE RANGE. 


CHAPTER I. 

THE BUNCH-GRASS PARTY. 

(( TT is not as it used to be,” said Inez, looking 
1 down upon the range with discontented 
eyes. “ To-morrow will be Sunday, and next day 
will be rations. If the agency had not been 
moved they would be setting up so many tents 
down there this afternoon. Hundreds of them. 
And our people would be there.” 

The dark-eyed girls and boys who sat with Inez 
in a semicircle on the bunch-grass by the mission 
stile turned their gaze upon the herdland, seeing 
in their mind’s eye an alluring picture of the tented 
village that had come and gone as often as the 
new moon when the agency was but a mile away. 

It was a charming fall day on the South Dakota 
plains. The round red sun was showering the 
range with mellow light. A blue mist hung above 
the distant buttes and drifted through the draws 
and coulees. The Missouri River bent and strag¬ 
gled in its shifting channel with its floating bars of 


IO 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


quicksand on the north and east, its muddy waters 
tinged with sapphire gleams. A narrow fringe of 
gold and scarlet foliage lay along the nearer side, 
and on the further side arose the bare black gumbo 
hills, a startling blot upon the scene, unsoftened by 
a vestige of the autumn glory lavished elsewhere. 

“We should see our little sisters and our little 
brothers,” Hester mused. “Round the camp 
should I be walking just now with the baby on 
my back.” 

“ I should not be carrying a baby, for we have 
none,” Nancy said; “I should have a puppy in 
my shawl. Maybe four or two, for we have 
always many puppies.” 

There was a quaint, soft accent in the speech 
of these Dakota children. They expressed them¬ 
selves with much precision, yet with animation, 
and there was a loving stress upon their words 
as they alluded to the bygone days. 

“My grandmother Three Braids would be 
there,” said little Polly. “ She would have a 
cowboy hat, and she would wear a soldier over¬ 
coat ’with very lots of buttons. Beeg and leetle, 
and so deeferent colors. Every time she find a 
button she sew it on her overcoat. She have a 
hundred when I came to school, one moon ago. 
They make it very preety, and so hard to leeft — 
thees way.” Polly proudly gripped her hands and 


THE BUNCH-GRASS PARTY. 


II 


tugged with labored breath, as if to raise a heavy 
weight. 

There was a peal of laughter from the school 
girls as they thought of wrinkled Three Braids 
in the cowboy hat and army overcoat bedecked 
with countless buttons, sweltering in the balmy 
weather. Polly hung her head, chagrined at her 
mistake. 

Lilian put her arm around the little girl, who 
sat beside her on the stile, and hugged her closely. 

“Three Braids likes to save the buttons, and 
she knows just where they are when she has 
sewed them on her coat. The grandmother does 
nice beadwork, and she makes such splendid In¬ 
dian dolls to give to little girls.” 

Polly raised her head and smiled, patting Lilian’s 
hand in gratitude for her defense of the good 
grandmother. Then she slipped away to join the 
children playing teepe by the woodpile. 

Lilian was a fair, slight girl with hazel eyes, 
long lashes, and a wealth of red-brown hair that 
curled in little rings upon her forehead. She 
showed no trace of Indian lineage, yet she was 
called a Sioux girl, and her Indian name was 
Miniwanca Swift Bird. The English name Lil¬ 
ian had been given her when she came to school 
nine years before, at about six years of age. 
She had but little of the Teton accent, though 


12 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


its rippling intonation sometimes touched her clearly 
modulated speech. 

Lilian wore a brown hat and a short blue 
jacket, while the hats and jackets of the other girls 
were lying in their laps or scattered on the grass. 
Her linsey-woolsey frock of plaided red and blue 
displayed no spot nor darn in contrast to the 
dresses of her mates, and every button was in 
place upon her neat kid shoes with patent leather 
tips. 

“ Ponies there would be for us to ride,” dreamed 
Inez, longingly reverting to the joys of ration 
time. 

“ There would be a horse-race, and I should be 
winning knives and pistols with my bronco,” said 
her brother Mario. 

“Kee!” exclaimed a number of the girls in 
chorus, looking doubtfully at one another. 

“That would be against the rule,” objected 
Katy, “ and you would be punished. Mr. Greely 
would not let you keep the knives and pistols, and 
would make you chop wood, after school, on ration 
day.” 

Mario raised a fist, then opened it, and sent his 
fingers flying toward the government school upon 
another hill, a mile or so away, in token of his 
disapproval of the discipline enforced by Superin¬ 
tendent Greely. 


THE BUNCH-GRASS PARTY. 13 

“There would be dogs — dogs — more dogs 
than ponies,” said Baptiste. “What dog fights 
there would be ! ” 

Lilian shuddered at the thought. “The Indian 
dogs are all so hideous, I cannot bear to look at 
them. Their legs are very short, and they have 
long, lean bodies, and are black and fierce. They 
have big heads and snarly hair that dangles in 
their eyes and makes them walk like blind dogs. 
When they mean to steal, they crouch down low and 
wriggle through the grass like snakes. They eat so 
much, the Indians don’t have enough themselves.” 

“ Tokee ! ” was the astonished cry, while many 
flashes from the bright black eyes were cast at 
Lilian. 

“ Hark to that! ” exclaimed Inez. “ Lilian thinks 
she is a white girl, and she thinks the Indians should 
have white dogs. She thinks that we should all be 
white. We are so hideous that she cannot bear to 
look at us. Ee-ah ! what crooked eyes I have, 
and what a long nose, and such frightful teeth.” 

Inez was a fiery little beauty of fifteen. Her 
father had been a handsome Spaniard, and her 
Indian mother was noted for her comeliness in 
early youth. 

Lilian laughed and tossed a plum at Inez as a 
peace-offering. 

“ I wish the Indians had such dogs as Mr. 


14 ABOVE THE RANGE. 

Averill. They are so sleek and handsome, and 
they run like deer. See, they are coming from 
the fort with him — all ten of them. He has been 
to get the mail.” 

All eyes were turned upon the young superin¬ 
tendent of the mission, riding up the range upon a 
fine black horse. His dogs were coursing far 
ahead, a splendid greyhound leading. 

“ Ee ! but they are swift,” said Mario, sharing 
Lilian’s admiration for the high-bred dogs. “ Look 

— they are after something. To my eyes it is a 
beast much larger than a jack-rabbitt.” 

All were instantly observant of the game which 
had aroused the mettle of the dogs. It was a 
slouching creature with a swinging gait, though 
swift of foot. 

“A coyote,” presently descried Baptiste, who 
was full Indian, and could stretch his eyes beyond 
the outlook of the Spanish-Indian boy. 

“ Tokee ! ” cried Mario, “ the dogs — how fast 

— they are the north wind in a blizzard. Mr. 
Averill is after them. He has his gun.” 

The bunch-grass party sprang upon its feet to 
watch the chase. The hunting instinct of the 
Indian had leaped to life in all. Lilian kept her 
seat, but felt a vivid interest in the hunt. “ Hyre ! 
hyu ! hyu ! ” was the excited cry. The girls out- 
cheered the boys. 


THE BUNCH-GRASS PARTY. 15 

The black horse caught the spirit of the chase, 
and sped with wondrous nerve. 

The dogs pursued the animal across a reach of 
level prairie, gaining on it meanwhile. Crowded 
by the dogs, it darted up a rise and skimmed the 
margin of a coulee for some distance. 

“Now they have it. It has dropped into the 
coulee, and the dogs have gone down after it,” 
cried Mario. “They will catch it in the brush.” 

But presently the animal was seen upon the 
further margin. It had climbed the steep side, 
which the dogs could not attempt, and thus eluded 
them. 

Mr. Averill was now within range of it, but pity 
for the struggling creature caused him to refrain 
from firing. He called his dogs and turned upon 
the track for home. 

The group set up the Indian cry of defeat, 
“ He-he-he-he! ” (Alas! alas! alas! alas!) and 
Mario supplemented the lament by flinging the 
derisive shout in Mr. Averill’s direction, “ Ho'wo ! 
Ho'wo ! E'-ya-ha-he ! E'-ya-ha-he ! ” (Come on ! 
Come on ! How brave you are ! How brave you 
are !) 

“Poor thing!” said Lilian, with a fluttering 
breath. “I’m glad he didn’t shoot it, though 
coyotes are so mean. They sometimes chase the 
cattle on the range, and bite their hind legs till 


16 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


they break the sinews. Then the cattle drop dead 
and the coyotes eat them.” 

“ It is not as it used to be with coyotes,” rumi¬ 
nated Baptiste when the bunch-grass party had 
resumed the semicircle. “Most of them the sol¬ 
diers and the boys have killed or scared away.” 

“ They will come back in great packs when the 
fort and boys’ school are moved,” predicted Mario. 
“You girls will hear them barking in the night. 
Even one will sound like many, for a coyote whirls 
round very fast and throws a bark all ways. And 
you will see them down there thick as buzzards 
when a blizzard there has been, feasting on the 
frozen cattle.” 

The girls looked down upon the sunlit range, 
thinking of its desolation when the snow was deep, 
and shrinking from the loneliness when there would 
be no brothers, cousins, and special friends upon 
the other hill. 

“ Glad am I that they have not begun to build 
the new schoolhouse at the agency,” said Inez. 
“ They will not move the boys this year.” 

“ I hope the soldiers won’t go, either,” Lilian 
said. “ There are such lovely ladies at the 
fort.” 

“ Because they notice her, she thinks they are 
so lovely,” tilted Inez, with a laugh. “ She is 
always going to the fort with Mrs. Averill to get 


THE BUNCH-GRASS PARTY. 17 

petted. And she holds her head up high, and 
talks so brave, just like she never was afraid.” 

“ You would not let the soldier ladies pet you,” 
Katy said. 

“ No ; I should do this way.” Inez hid her face 
behind her hands, then peeped out coyly between 
her fingers. 

“ I should turn my back,” feared Hester. 

“ I should hang my head,” quaked Nancy. 

44 I should hold my head up,” Katy braced her 
nerves to hope, 44 and say yes, ma’am, and no, 
ma’am, if they talked to me, but I should feel very 
scared and want to run and hide.” 

Katy had spent five years at Hampton, and was 
next to Lilian in the line of self-possession. 

44 Lieutenant Frisbie has been married, and his 
bride is coming to the fort,” said Lilian, heedless 
of the little missile shied at her by Inez. 44 She is 
young and beautiful, they say. I hope I shall see 
her often, even if she doesn’t talk to me.” 

Lilian cast a wistful look upon the little army 
post four miles away. She saw the long, white 
guardhouse and the commissary store quite plainly 
through the haze. Then she sent her eyes still 
further, gazing dreamily at the horizon. 

44 She has been in the great cities, New York 
and Washington, and she has been across the 
ocean. I have only been there and here.” 


l8 ABOVE THE RANGE. 

Lilian looked toward the buttes, beyond which 
was the Indian camp where she had lived in early 
childhood with her foster parents. They had 
brought her to their log house on returning from 
a roving expedition in the autumn, thirteen years 
before, but in what way they obtained her was a 
mystery. They had adopted her to fill the place 
of their little daughter who had died not long 
before. 

The Indian foster parents had been fond of 
Lilian, and had come to visit her quite often at 
the mission, camping in their teepe, and until her 
twelfth year she had spent a part of every summer 
in their cabin on the reservation. But the foster 
parents had both died, and now the mission was 
her constant home. 

“ I was in the great city of New York last 
summer, when I came from Hampton,” Katy said. 
“ I rode in a street car up above the top windows 
of the houses. And I hallooed into a little hole 
and held a funny thing up to my ear, and they 
heard me as far away as a two weeks’ ride horse¬ 
back, and they hallooed to me and I heard 
them.” 

“ Kee! ” exclaimed the girls and boys in con¬ 
cert. 

They had heard before about the Hampton girl’s 
experience with the elevated railway and the tele- 


THE BUNCH-GRASS PARTY. 1 9 

phone, but they could not believe the wondrous 
story. 

“ You are just cheating,” Nancy said. 

“No, I am very true. It cost nine dollars for 
all the Indian girls to halloo that dared to, but a 
rich white man paid for it. He wanted us to tell 
our people what great things the white men could 
find out how to do. But Irene Turtle Shell — she 
was a Crow Indian — turned her back to the little 
hole, for she thought it was bad medicine. 

“And I saw the — Statue of—Liberty. She 
stands on an island near New York, with the water 
very far all around. She is the color of an Indian 
woman, and so-o ta-a-11! If she was lying down 
out there, her feet would reach to the wood pile, 
and her head to the dog corral,” was the wild 
guess. 

“You said the chicken house when last you 
talked of her,” corrected Inez. 

“ I cannot quite tell — there is not much differ¬ 
ence. I climbed up, up the twisted stairs inside 
of her, till I was very scared, to the tip-top of 
her brains, and looked out through a hole in her 
crown. Many people can stand in her head and 
not get pushed.” 

“ How grand she is,” said Lilian, with eyes and 
cheeks aglow. “She holds a scroll in one hand, 
and a splendid torchlight in the other. Miss 


20 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


Hartford says the hand that holds the scroll looks 
soft and dimpled, and the other very strong, as if 
it never would get tired of holding up the torch 
to light the world.” 

“ Yes,” said Katy; “and the forefinger of the 
strong hand is as long as a porch post, and she 
could not squeeze the thumb into a post hole.” 

“ Tokee ! ” was the surprised rejoinder from the 
interested audience on the bunch-grass. 

“The great city was very far down,” pursued 
the sight-seer, “ and the big stores looked so-o 
little, like the dog house. And the ships down on 
the water looked as if they did not move, when 
they were going very fast. I have sailed in a 
ship, and—I have been seasick.” 

She dropped her voice mysteriously. 

“ What is it to be seasick?” questioned Nancy, 
looking at the traveler with awed eyes, as if she 
gazed on one miraculously snatched from the jaws 
of death. 

“You walk on the deck this way.” Katy 
struggled to her feet and tottered on the sward. 
“ And you try to get downstairs to lie down. But 
you are very sl-o-o-w ” — she blindly clutched the 
air—“and you are sorry that you came.” She 
said no more, but locked her hands despairingly, 
and showed her white teeth with a squeamish 
smile. 


THE BUNCH-GRASS PARTY. 


21 


Katy had an Irish father, and a deal of mimicry 
was mingled with her Indian traits. 

“ When I went to Hampton I was nine birth¬ 
days, ” went on the brisk narrator, cheered by the 
attention of her hearers. “ There was not a very 
little girl’s class at the Indian school, so I went to 
a white children’s school. The white boys were 
not polite to me. They pinched me with pins, and 
ran back of me and called me little redskin. 
There was an old soldier. He was drunk and he 
ran crooked, but he chased the boys and made 
them stop. I was crying when I came where my 
sister was, and I said I did not like to be at Hamp¬ 
ton, and I wanted to go home very fast. But she 
said we must stay five years.” 

“Was your sister a long girl or a short girl?” 
Nancy asked. 

“ She was two moons after fourteen birthdays. 
Just my age last Christmas tree.” 

There was a sudden stir among the group, and 
every eye was turned toward a draw upon the 
west into which three horseback riders had de¬ 
scended. Shortly they emerged and rode along 
the level range in single file. 

The girls and boys kept watch of them with 
keen, far-seeing eyes. 

“Policemen!” Baptiste soon discovered, start¬ 
ing up. 


22 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


All were now alert. 

“ Yes,” said Inez. “ I can see their uniforms.” 

“ The one that rides first, on the white horse, is 
my father,” Hester found ere long. 

“ And Peter Poor Shot’s uncle is the one that 
rides last,” Mario said. 

“ And who rides in the middle? Just like I am 
very blind,” groped Nancy, who was suffering 
from a sty in aggravated form and had one eye 
tied up. 

“Not a policeman, nor a man. One shorter,” 
Mario perceived. 

“ Clark McKeag,” said Inez in another minute. 

“Clark?” said Lilian, springing from the stile. 
She held her hand above her eyes, looking down 
the range in some excitement. 

.“Back to school have the policemen brought 
him?” wondered Nancy. 


CHAPTER II. 


A WHITE CAPTIVE 


HE Indian policemen and their charge were 



1 riding rather swiftly, but their horses slack¬ 
ened speed as they came nearer, and before they 
reached the outposts of the mission grounds they 
dropped into a walk and scaled the hillside in a 
solemn line. 

Upon arriving at the cattle gate some rods below 
the stile, the rear guard turned into the grounds 
and rode toward the dog corral, where Mr. Averill 
was shutting in the dogs. 

As if to emphasize the grave occasion and convey 
a lesson to the watchful party at the stile, the 
policeman left in charge fell back and seized the 
bridle of the captive’s pony, leading him a pace or 
two behind his own. The Indian did not turn 
his head nor move a muscle of his face as he ap¬ 
proached the stile. He passed the party like a 
mounted statue, glancing neither to the right nor 


left. 


The white boy whom he had in tow preserved 
a similar demeanor, imitating with remarkable 
fidelity the rigid aspect of his Indian captor. 


23 


24 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


This he did till he was close beside the stile, then 
suddenly he gave himself a fling and struck the 
ground, and with a bound or two was side by side 
with Lilian, who had fluttered back upon her 
perch. 

“ Kee! you must not do that,” Hester warned 
in undertone. “ My father thinks he has you on 
the pony.” 

Clark fired a wink from his audacious blue eye 
at the grim red deputy of law and order, who 
pursued the forced march toward the boys’ school, 
apparently unconscious that his captive had es¬ 
caped. 

He rode on several rods, then broke into a trot. 
All at once he turned and looked upon the empty 
saddle; then he drew the reins and stopped as if 
in great bewilderment. 

He wheeled about and rode back at a furious 
rate. The girls and boys who stood upon the 
grass fell back to clear the way. Lilian held her 
breath, but Clark was unconcerned. 

As the Indian bore down upon the stile, he 
checked his horse so suddenly he threw him back 
upon his haunches, drew a pistol from his belt, 
and whirled it with a frightful scowl. 

He fired it into the air, and quietly dismounted 
and began to shake hands with the girls and boys. 

“ How! ” he said to each in cordial tones. 


A WHITE CAPTIVE. 25 

He grasped Clark’s hand, and wrung it with 
special fervor. 

“ Be good boy. Go school. Study hard like 
Indian,” was his gentle admonition. 

Thereupon he left Clark to his own devices 
and followed Peter Poor Shot’s uncle to the dog 
corral. 

Clark turned to Lilian with a laugh. 

“ How ! ” exclaimed he, stretching out his hand. 

She shook it somewhat gravely, but there was 
friendship in the grasp. 

He then descended from the stile and went the 
rounds among the boys and girls, in emulation of 
the sociable policeman. 

The girls were rather shy of him, but they cast 
admiring glances at the jaunty cowboy rig in 
which he had been captured on the range. 

A light, soft hat, with marvelous rim, slouched 
gracefully upon his golden locks. A gray silk 
handkerchief with scarlet edge was knotted at 
his sunburnt throat. His flannel shirt of navy 
blue, which sagged upon the hips in genuine cow¬ 
boy style, was girded with a leather belt, and 
leather leggings, with a row of fringe along the 
sides, incased his legs. He was a well-developed, 
prepossessing youth of sixteen years. He had 
stayed from school to join the cowboys in the great 
fall round-up of beef cattle, and participate in the 


2 6 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


exciting work of cutting out his uncle’s cattle from 
the general herd and driving them to sale. 

Clark was a Wisconsin boy, who had been 
brought among the Indians by a strange turn in 
the wheel of fortune. 

His eccentric uncle, Seth McKeag, had drifted 
to the reservation many years before, and had 
married Mother Swift Bird’s sister. He had been 
a man of education, and in some degree he still 
retained his love of knowledge, being known 
among the Indians as the man with many books. 
He had grown wealthy in the cattle business, and 
had built a good-sized ranch house, which was 
looked upon with wonder by his Indian neigh¬ 
bors. 

Three years previously McKeag had heard a 
rumor that his brother, who had been a poor in¬ 
ventor with unlimited hope, had died and left a 
young son motherless and homeless. Thereupon 
McKeag had gone back to Wisconsin to investi¬ 
gate, and having found the rumor to be true, had 
brought the boy to the Dakota plains. By permis¬ 
sion from the Indian agent, he had placed Clark in 
the government school, where he had shared to 
some extent the fare and discipline of the Indian 
boys. 

From the tangle of one Indian sister being 
Clark’s aunt, and the other Lilian’s foster mother, 


A WHITE CAPTIVE. 27 

the boy and girl were looked upon as cousins, and 
in many ways they were congenial comrades. 

The bunch-grass party settled down a third time, 
for the boys had come to while away the Saturday 
afternoon in visiting the girls, and all were on 
their native heath when lounging on the grass. 

“ You fellows missed the fun,” said Clark, when 
he was back upon the stile. “We scoured the 
country to the Rosebud and the Black Hills. We 
bunched five thousand cattle in one place, and all 
the owners had their beeves cut out; then we 
turned the cattle loose and bunched another lot. 
Every cowboy but one, in this part of South Da¬ 
kota, seemed to be in the lasso gang.” 

“ Who was that one?” Mario asked. 

There was a little pause. 

“ Your brother, Alphonso.” 

“Why was not Alphonso there?” demanded 
Inez, quickly. 

Clark hesitated somewhat longer. 

“ Other business, I suppose, ” he said evasively. 

It must, indeed, have been important business 
that had kept Alphonso, the intrepid cowboy, from 
engaging in the great fall round-up of the beeves. 

Inez gave a startled glance at Mario, but the 
handsome dark face of the Spanish-Indian boy ex¬ 
pressed no wonder nor concern. He lay back 
lazily upon the grass, and clasped his hands be- 


28 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


neath his head, and looked at Clark with half- 
closed eyes, as if awaiting further news of the 
events upon the range. 

“The cowboys were divided into messes, and 
there was a chuck wagon, and a cook, and horse- 
wrangler for every mess — you know the way,” 
proceeded Clark. “ We fared first rate in our 
mess until the cook and the horse-wrangler had 
some trouble, and the cook got hurt, then I had to 
superintend the chuck for several days. , Uncle 
Seth was sharp enough to turn me to account that 
way.” 

“ I hope you made good biscuit and didn’t burn 
the meat,” said Lilian. 

She remembered certain adverse rumors as to 
Clark’s ability as a cook, which had floated in from 
the other school. 

Clark shrugged his shoulders but did not com¬ 
mit himself. 

“ Did you shoot a deer? ” she asked, seeing that 
a rolled-up skin was strapped before the saddle on 
his pony, which the Indian had fastened to a post. 

“Yes,” said he, “ out near the Black Hills. 
You girls can dress and tan the skin, and divide it 
for your beadwork.” 

“ I don’t do nice beadwork,” Lilian said, “ but 
I will help the others dress the skin. It will be 
lovely for their work.” 


A WHITE CAPTIVE. 


2 9 


There was a murmur of delight from all the 
girls but Inez, who had lapsed into a dreary 
mood. The beautiful soft deerskin which their 
mothers had in such abundance in their girlhood, 
for all sorts of fancy work, and even for whole 
dresses, had become an almost unknown article, 
owing to the scarcity of deer. The girls were 
forced to be content with meager portions of the 
skins from small wild creatures and domestic 
animals, which they helped their mothers dress 
and scrape till they were thin and pliable. 

“ We thank you very much,” said Katy. “ We 
will bead some hat bands for the boys, and hang 
them on the Christmas tree.” 

And Clark was the hero of the day. 

“ It is not as it used to be,” repeated Mario, open¬ 
ing his eyes to fix them jealously on the skin. 
“ It used to be that Indian boys went hunting, and 
white boys stayed in school.” 

“ Yes,” said Clark, “ times are changing every 
which way. Funny for a white boy to be brought 
to school by Indian policemen,” and he leaned 
back on the stile and laughed. “ I had an argu¬ 
ment with Uncle Seth about not coming back this 
year, and he spoke to the policemen.” 

“ You are needed,” Mario said maliciously. 
“ There is much hair to be cut. The points have 
long been growing.” 


30 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


Clark straightened up and groaned. 

In an ill-starred moment he had made it known 
that he possessed a natural genius for the art of 
trimming hair, and thus he had become, perforce, 
the barber of the school. 

“ Ho-ke-la will come first,” said Mario, and he 
rolled his eyes in the direction of a new full Indian 
boy sitting separate from the rest. He had taken 
no part in the conversation, as he could not speak 
English, and the pupils of the schools were not 
allowed to speak Dakota save on Sunday. Most 
of them observed the rule with care, although they 
loved to speak their native language. 

The wild boy, Ho-ke-la, was the namesake of 
the man in the moon, because he was short and 
had a large body and large legs. He was enrolled 
as Stephen, but the civilized name had not begun to 
cling to him as yet. He had put on the garments of 
the schoolboy, but his long, wild tresses, reaching 
to his shoulders and besmeared with beaver oil, had 
not been tampered with. 

“I’ll shear him closer than a monk,” Clark 
threatened recklessly. 

“ He will fight you when he catches you alone,” 
said Mario. 

“Not till he’s laid off his mourning. ^ ’T wouldn’t 
be the custom.” 

“ Will he mourn, I wonder — and his family — 


A WHITE CAPTIVE. 31 

and give away their things and ponies ? ” Katy 
said. 

The rite of cutting hair was something very 
serious with the uncivilized Sioux. It was a sign 
of mourning, and was frequently attended with 
disastrous results. If the family went into mourn¬ 
ing, they must scatter their possessions here and 
there as presents to their friends. 

Hence the superintendents of the schools dreaded 
the enrolment of a long-haired boy, and post¬ 
poned the evil day of shearing him till he was 
somewhat wonted to his new surroundings. Now 
and then the wild boy shed his locks from choice, 
to follow the example of the civilized boys. 

‘ 4 I don’t know why the Indians are so strange,” 
said Lilian, looking at the boy, who sat apart, in 
passive ignorance of what was going on. “ Some¬ 
times it seems all new and far away, as if I’d only 
read about it in a book.” 

Her eyes grew dreamy, and she gazed at the 
expanse of sky and herdland in a puzzled way. 
The mystery of how she came to be among the 
strange red people weighed upon her more and 
more as she grew older. 

Girls of partial Indian lineage as fair as she 
were sometimes to be seen, but Lilian had no traits 
in common with her mates. Although she had a 
warm affection for these bright, weird children of 


32 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


the plains with whom she had been reared, she 
was distinct from them in feeling, and her ways 
were wholly different from theirs. 

44 We do not want to be so strange,” said Inez, 
gloomily. 44 We hate it and we are ashamed of it, 
but we are just as God made us and we cannot 
help it.” 

44 We can help it a little, but not very much,” 
said Katy. 4 4 We can wear alike dresses with 
white girls, and we can learn to work as well as 
they do, but Miss Hartford says we do not learn to 
think, so we cannot study very hard. And Mr. 
Averill says that we can never be all civilized if 
we believe in ghosts. And we always shall believe 
in ghosts.” 

44 That reminds me ! ” Clark exclaimed, spring¬ 
ing from the stile to plunge into his saddle-bag, 
and bring to light a little buckskin bag of ancient 
aspect, which he held up by a horsehair cord. 
44 I’ve brought you a ghost-lock, Lilian.” 

All the bunch-grass party, but Ho-ke-la, started 
to their feet in vague alarm. 

44 The great-grandmother’s,” whispered Hester. 

She had lived a neighbor to the Swift Bird’s, and 
was versed in the tradition of the family ghost- 
lock. 

44 Wa-na-gi ” (ghost-lock), Mario muttered, look¬ 
ing down at Ho-ke-la. 


A WHITE CAPTIVE. 


33 


The wild boy also started up, as terrified as his 
companions. He gazed upon the gruesome relic 
dangling from Clark’s hand, then turned and 
walked away. Baptiste followed him, then Mario 
and the rest. 

The girls were likewise moved to slip away, and 
in a wondrously short time the group about the 
stile had melted into space. 

Clark and Lilian left alone, exchanged a rueful 
glance and laughed. 


CHAPTER III. 


great-grandmother’s ghost-lock. 
ILIAN took the buckskin bag which held the 



L/ lock of hair supposed to be the ghost or 
shade of the departed great-grandmother, and ex¬ 
amined it with curiosity. 

It was worked with porcupine quills in many 
lines, and blue and red figures had been traced 
upon it with indelible dye. It had an odor of 
sweet-smelling herbs, which had been placed as 
charmed necessities in the bag. 

“ Mother Swift Bird never let me see it, but she 
told me she had it. It was in a deerskin pack, 
and the pack was hanging in a corner of the cabin 
with a leather curtain worked with funny things 
in front of it. Great-grandmother’s spoon and 
bowl and drinking cup were on the floor right 
under it. And Mother Swift Bird used to put food 
in the bowl, and water in the cup, for she thought 
the ghost would need them just the same as if it 
was great-grandmother herself.” 

“ Aunt Losa did the same. She was always 
cooking extra tidbits for the ghost,” laughed 


34 


great-grandmother’s ghost-lock. . 35 

Clark. “They thought it ate the ghost of the 
food, and left the real stuff for the dogs.” 

“ Mother Swift Bird was afraid Aunt Losa 
couldn’t keep it on account of Uncle Seth, and 
she made me promise I would keep it very safely, 
if Aunt Losa ever gave it to me, till ’twas time to 
bury it. I suppose Aunt Losa had to give it up.” 

“Yes; she got to cutting up too much about it. 
Every time she saw a white horse or a white cow, 
in the evening, she thought it was the great-grand¬ 
mother’s ghost, and she would fire off a gun and 
make a desperate stir. One night she saw a white 
cowskin hanging on a post, and banged away at it 
to scare it off. Uncle Seth was right behind the 
post, and escaped death by the skin of his teeth. 
He broke into the pack and pulled the ghost 
bag out, declaring he would burn it, but she 
begged him not to, and agreed to shift it onto you. 
She thought ’twould keep the old lady on the 
ghost trot to the crack of doom, if he should burn 
the ghost-lock.” 

“ She believes it must be buried in great-grand¬ 
mother’s grave, or the ghost will not stop walking. 
Only think, it has been kept eleven years and nearly 
six months. I have kept account because I was 
so anxious for the burial time to hurry up. I felt 
sorry for Aunt Losa, Uncle Seth was so opposed 
to the ghost-lock, and I was afraid ’twould come to 


3 ^ 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


me at last. And all because Mother Swift Bird’s 
mother dreamed the night before great-grand¬ 
mother died that she must be a ghost twelve 
years.” 

“The twelve years will be up next April — 
planting time — and Uncle Fair Weather will be 
on from the agency to attend the ceremony. You 
and I will be in the procession.” 

“ ’Twill be buried up there,” said Lilian, look¬ 
ing at the ancient Indian graveyard on the hilltop 
just above the mission grounds. 

A troop of little girls were wandering among 
the graves, searching for the beads profusely 
scattered there, — as offerings to the dead, it was 
supposed. They could not string the beads, for 
they were clogged with hard earth, but they treas¬ 
ured them. Strange to say, the children had no 
dread of being in the graveyard, though they 
thought it argued ill to step across a grave. 

“I wish you hadn’t shown it to the girls,” was 
Lilian’s regret. “ I could have hidden it in my 
trunk, and they would not have known I had it.” 

“ It was fun to scare them. Won’t they make 
things lively if they see the ghost as often as Aunt 
Losa did? I’d like—Jerusha — wouldn’t it be a 
junket?” Clark stopped suddenly and held his 
sides to laugh. 

Lilian looked at him inquiringly, but gained no 


great-grandmother’s ghost-lock. 37 

reason for his jumbled exclamation and excessive 
mirth. 

“ Dear me ! it’s dreadful when there is a ghost- 
walk scare in the school,” she said. “The little 
girls are cross and hard to manage, and the large 
and middle-sized girls break the rules, and stop 
to whisper when they should be hurrying about 
the meals. They had a frightful scare the last 
time the ‘Best Friend’ was here. There was to 
be a frost that night, and Mrs. Averill had covered 
her geraniums in the side yard with a sheet. Sarah 
Spider went to fill the water pitcher after dark for 
supper, and she saw the sheet and thought it was 
a ghost. Sarah and Amelia High Hawk waited 
on the teacher’s table, and she told Amelia in the 
pantry. Of course that made Amelia nervous, and 
she upset the sauce dish, and the peach juice ran 
down on Mr. Averill’s coat.” 

Clark held his sides once more. 

“When will the ‘Best Friend’ be around 
again?” he musingly inquired. 

“ It’s time for him next week, but I hope he 
will be late this year. I love our dear ‘Best Friend,’ 
and can hardly wait for him to come at other 
times; but Miss Delaney, the industrial teacher, 
went away last week to see her mother, who is 
very ill, and Mrs. Averill lets me oversee the kitchen 
when she can’t be there. I make the teacher’s 


38 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


cake and puddings, but I wouldn’t like to have the 
missionary eat them. 

“ I suppose I’ll have to take my turn again at 
housework,” grumbled Clark. “ I wouldn’t mind 
the outdoor work, but I detest this puttering round 
the kitchen in a woman’s apron.” 

“ Well, at any rate, the influence will be better 
than among the cowboys.” 

“Yes; it’s innocent amusement,— making pies 
and stirring mush for Indians. Kind of queer, 
though, for a white boy; but no queerer than the 
other freaks of Uncle Seth’s. He’ll be around to 
bring my trunk and caution Mr. Greely in regard 
to tightening the discipline. If it hadn’t been for 
you it "Would have taken more than two policemen 
to escort me back. I thought you would be worry- 
ing.” 

“Sol was ; I’m glad you’re safe at school again. 
Now you must steady down and set a good 
example to the Indian boys,” was Lilian’s counsel. 
“ Mr. Greely and the agent thought ’twould be a 
splendid thing to have a white boy’s influence in 
the Indian school, but I’m afraid they’re disap¬ 
pointed— just a bit.” 

Clark made no answer, though he seemed to be 
immersed in semi-serious reflection for a little. 

Lilian knew that he was much too iond of the 
exciting life among the cowboys, and she borrowed 


great-grandmother’s ghost-lock. 39 

no anxiety about the discipline of the school. 
Despite the rigorous request of the eccentric uncle, 
Clark was granted many favors which the Indian 
boys could not have used. As he was more 
advanced than they in all his studies, he was given 
private lessons by the teachers, and he was to all 
intents a member of the superintendent’s family. 

“ It’s a bad thing for Alphonso,” he changed 
the subject to remark; “ they suspect he has been 
stealing cattle, and he couldn’t take part in the 
round-up on account of his unpopularity. He ran 
the cattle off the range and delivered them to 
white thieves, who attended to the shipping — so 
it is supposed.” 

“But Alphonso couldn’t do that by himself,” 
said Lilian in surprise. “Why, he is only nine¬ 
teen — just a schoolboy till last year.” 

“ A fellow of nineteen can do a heap of mischief 
by himself, especially if he’s half Indian and half 
Spanish. Though they think Alphonso had some 
partners on the range; but they haven’t got upon 
the track of any one but him. The round-up 
proved that there has been a big steal. Uncle 
Seth has lost heavily. They’re watching that 
Alphonso doesn’t get away.” 

“ What would they do if he should try? Take 
him to the agency and put him into jail? ” 

Clark shook his head. “ Worse than that, most 


4 o 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


likely. They are getting desperate about this 
cattle thieving, and old Pixley’s working up the 
case. He’s a squaw man, and a terror. Used to 
be a British sailor. He has lost a lot of cattle — 
so he claims.” 

“Oh, you don’t imagine they would — ” Lilian 
stopped and shuddered. She was used to sad 
reports of reckless deeds connected with the wild 
life of the plains, but she was horrified to think of 
young Alphonso in the hands of a remorseless mob 
of cattle drivers. “ And he hasn’t any father to 
defend him. Mr. Greely liked Alphonso, and he 
was a favorite with all the teachers. I don’t believe 
he is a cattle thief; do you ? ” 

Clark gave himself a little time, as if to weigh 
the matter from a juror’s standpoint. 

“ Well, to tell the truth, I think old Pixley and 
his boys are pretty keen to lay the crime upon 
Alphonso. Pixley and Cardona were sworn ene¬ 
mies, and the Pixley boys are keeping up the feud 
with the Cardona boys.” 

“But the Pixleys wouldn’t dare—they’d be 
found out, and then the agent would arrest and 
punish them ! ” 

“ Oh, the Pixleys would stand back and let the 
full-blood cowboys do the mischief. They would 
probably manage to escape the agent, though he’s 
pretty strict. Those full-bloods are used to run- 


great-grandmother’s ghost-lock. 41 

ning risks, and they’d take their chance of getting 
caught.” 

“ Inez must have known Alphonso was sus¬ 
pected, for she looked so worried when you spoke 
of him. Poor girl! she thinks the world of him.” 

“ Such is life upon an Indian reservation,” Clark 
descanted, jumping from the stile. “ I didn’t 
bring the ghost-pack nor the spoon and dishes — 
Uncle Seth gave orders that I shouldn’t—and 
Aunt Losa is afraid the ghost will starve if you 
don’t feed it.” 

“ Well, I shan’t,” said Lilian firmly. “ I didn’t 
promise that. I shall put it in my trunk and that 
is all, if Mr. Averill will let me keep it, but I’m 
dreadfully ashamed to speak to him about it.” 

Clark explored the saddle-bag a second time, 
drawing out a narrow, beaded case. 

“ I brought the measuring sticks, and you must 
watch the new moons,” was his caution. 

They took the deerskin to the summer laundry 
in a little building in the yard and hung it on a 
line, then Clark resumed his journey to the boys’ 
school, and Lilian went to seek an interview with 
Mr. Averill, and inform him of the great respon¬ 
sibility she had assumed in becoming the keeper 
of the ghost-lock. 

The policemen had gone, and he was in his 
office. Lilian walked into the teachers’ hall and 


4 2 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


knocked upon the office door. Mr. Averill was 
opening the mail, but she was cordially admitted. 
She sat down rather shyly with the sacred relic 
in her lap. 

“ Perhaps you know that Cousin Clark is back,” 
she said. “ He brought me something very dread¬ 
ful, and I’ve come to ask if I may keep it,” hold¬ 
ing up the bag. 

“ It doesn’t look so very dreadful,” Mr. Averill 
answered, reaching out to take it. 

“Oh, it is — at least the girls think so. Of 
course I don’t believe in it. It’s great-grand- 
mother’s ghost-lock, and I am to keep it till the 
last of April.” 

Mr. Averill could not suppress a smile. He 
made an effort to untie the bag, but the horsehair 
cord refused to yield. It had been knotted hard 
for many years. He took his knife and was about 
to cut the cord when Lilian interposed. 

“Please don’t,” she said. “ It doesn’t seem as 
if it would be right. I think I can untie it.” 

“ Never mind,” for he was not extremely curious 
to explore the contents. “ I suppose there are the 
usual herbs and other charms. Will the burial 
time arrive in April ? ” 

“Yes; the twelve years will be out. The 
bundle of notched sticks is in here ”: she displayed 
the beaded case. “ I am to cut a notch for every 


great-grandmother’s ghost-lock. 43 

month. Mother Swift Bird told me I must watch 
for the new moon, and I suppose I must, just as 
if I hadn’t learned the calendar. No one else can 
keep it. Uncle Seth was going to burn it, so Aunt 
Losa sent it here.” 

Mr. Avefill looked very grave, and gave the 
strange affair a moment’s thought. 

“I don’t quite like to have you entering into 
such a custom, Lilian. We depend on you to 
lead the girls. I suppose they know you have the 
lock.” 

4 ‘Yes, they ran away from it. Of course it 
ought not to be here, but I promised Mother Swift 
Bird I would keep it very safely if it ever came to 
me.” 

“What nonsense, Lilian!” he suddenly ex¬ 
claimed. “ I am astonished that a girl like you 
should bind yourself with such a promise. Why, 
an ordinary Indian school-child of eight years 
ought to know far better. I wonder that you did 
not laugh at the absurdity.” 

He gave the bag a toss and looked at Lilian 
with stern eyes. 

A wave of pained surprise swept over her and 
sent a vivid color to her sensitive face. In all the 
trials which befell the management of many Indian 
girls she had never seen the superintendent lose a 
vestige of his wondrous patience till that moment, 


44 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


and she had no memory of ever having been 
reproved by him before. 

“She had been good to me — Mother Swift 
Bird — and I loved her, and she was about to die. 
I should have been so cruel to have laughed at 
her,” she faltered, choking back the tears. 

“ Pardon me, my child,” said Mr. Averill, recov¬ 
ering himself and speaking gently. “ I know it 
was a most important matter to the Indian woman 
that the hair be kept in safety and disposed of 
in the customary way, and we will respect her 
wish.” 

“ Then you will let me keep it? ” Lilian asked 
in deep relief. 

“ I must,” was his reply. “Although I do not 
wonder that Clark’s uncle wished to burn the 
troublesome lock, we mission workers cannot fight 
the superstition in that way. If we did we should 
offend the Indians, and our work would be in 
vain. But I fear the lock will make us trouble. 
Are you very sure that you have not a slight belief 
in the ghost yourself? ” 

“ Oh, very sure indeed,” she answered earnestly. 
‘ ‘ I wouldn’t be at all afraid to sleep with the ghost- 
bag right under my pillow. I never believed in 
it when I was very small, though Mother Swift 
Bird used to tell me if I didn’t go to sleep real 
soon at night the great-grandmother’s ghost would 


great-grandmother’s ghost-lock. 45 

pull my mouth and eyes crooked, and draw a rose¬ 
bush across my face.” 

Despite the serious situation, Mr. Averill smiled. 

“ It is remarkable if you can take a firm stand 
against the superstition after that experience.” He 
then suppressed a sigh. “ That is one great diffi¬ 
culty with the Indian children. They are born to 
the belief, and they are frightened with these sense¬ 
less ghost tales from their earliest understanding. 
Little wonder fhat it seems impossible to train it 
out of them. All are more or less affected by the 
superstitions.” 

“All of them — do you mean all?” she asked 
in quick suspense. 

He paused, as if to search his memory for a 
case in the reverse. 

“ I have never known a girl or a boy in whom 
there was a trace of Indian lineage that I thought 
was free from it,” was his reply. 

Lilian started from her chair with vehement 
eyes and fluttering breath. 

Did he think that she could not be free from the 
belief, or was he sure that she was not an Indian 
girl? 

She tried to ask the question, but her lips refused 
to frame it, and she sank back tremblingly. 


CHAPTER IV. 


THE TATTOO ARTIST, 


f f HE great-grandmother would not be tattooed 



in the middle of the forehead or on her 


chin or arm, so she lost the long road that goes to 
the Many Lodges, and took the short one that 
goes another way,” said Hester to the large and 
middle-sized girls who had met in council in 
the music-room behind closed doors. “The old 
woman that sits in the short road and watches 
every ghost that goes that way jumped up and 
made her stop, and looked to find the tattoo mark. 
She could not, so she pushed her from a cloud, 
and back she fell into this world. And the old 
woman in the short road told the grandmother in 
a dream that she must cut the wa-na-gi from the 
great-grandmother’s head and keep it twelve grass- 
grows. And the great-grandmother now walks, an 
old, old ghost.” 

‘ ‘ I have not been tattooed,” said Katy. ‘ ‘ Would 
the old woman push me from a cloud?” 

“ I think you would not go that way. Those 
who have been to school can find the long road 
because they have walked in a different road down 


THE TATTOO ARTIST. 47 

here, my mother says. And all the short children 
will go the long road, too.” 

“ That is good. I did not quite know before.” 

Katy was deficient in the ghost lore of her peo¬ 
ple, owing to her five years in the Eastern school. 

“ Hester is not true,” disputed Sarah Spider. 
“ She tries to be so civilized because her father is 
a policeman. Just like she wants to make folks 
think she is not full Indian. My mother says we 
all must be tattooed. I have been tattooed,” pull¬ 
ing up her sleeve and thrusting out her slim brown 
arm to show a little spatter of blue dots above her 
wrist. 

Sarah and some others had been gathering buf¬ 
falo berries, or rabbits’ noses, by the river, and 
had missed the bunch-grass party. They had 
been admitted to the council as the doors were being 
closed, and had not stopped to pass around the 
berries, but had dropped their baskets on the floor to 
join with zest in the discussion as to the wa-na-gi. 

The ghost was not regarded with disfavor, 
although it was desirable to keep it at a distance. 
The great-grandmother had been a good woman 
and, according to tradition, her ghost was entitled 
to reverent attention. Strange to say, it was only 
the ghost of a well-behaved person that was rest¬ 
less and gave trouble. 

Several of the girls displayed a similar mark 


4 8 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


upon the arm, but the greater number had none, 
for the custom of tattooing, as well as of preserving 
ghost-locks, is upon the wane among the Teton of 
the present day. 

“ I do not much fear the old woman on the short 
road — and I am very healthy ” — wavered Hester ; 
“but I would be tattooed if Mr. Averill would let 
me.” 

“ But he will not,” said Katy. “ He says it is 
a relic of barberry-ism, and it is very much against 
the rule.” 

“ I would not care if it was,” defied Sarah, in 
a cautious undertone. “ A wild steer may hook 
you, or the boat may tip you out, or you may 
have the fast consumption, like Delia Eagle Man. 
I should be very scared if I was not tattooed,” 
with the air of one long since prepared for death. 

There was a consultation, while a resolute ex¬ 
pression grew upon the faces of the girls. 

“ Not yet have the lamps been trimmed,” for 
Jessie Two Moons hates her work,” said Sarah. 
“They are on the laundry shelf, and I can pinch 
the black stuff from the wicks, and mix it with 
some hair oil from my trunk to make the tattoo 
medicine. And on the dormitory bureau there are 
needles in the cushion. We can go to the log 
house and sit against the door, and it will be short 
work to tattoo all of you.” 


THE TATTOO ARTIST. 


49 


There was silence, while the untattooed con¬ 
tended with their conscience whether to defy the 
superintendent’s wish and enter into Sarah’s bar¬ 
barous plan. Before this question was decided 
Hester brought another before the halting council. 

“ Some one should go for cedar, for a wah-kon. 
Ghosts despise the smell of that, and if we hang 
it up above the dormitory door the wa-na-gi will 
stay out when we are asleep at night. And if we 
have the wah-kon in our pockets, she will not chase 
us when we go to take in clothes or empty dish¬ 
water after dark. If it is under our pillow we 
shall not dream of the ghost— I think — but I am 
not quite sure. If you dream of it, you must not 
speak to it or shake hands with it. If you do, you 
will die before the grass grows next,” was the 
startling revelation. 

“ I shall stay awake all night and go to sleep 
in school,” Katy tremblingly resolved. 

“ Four of those who have been tattooed may go 
for the wah-kon,” permitted Sarah, who was fast 
assuming full control of the anti-ghost preparations. 
Sarah was a chief’s daughter, and she had the in¬ 
born majesty that forced obedience from her mates. 

“But that would be against another rule,” 
warned Katy. “The cedar is across the river, 
and Mr. Averill does not allow the girls to go 
alone on the water.” 


50 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“ Inez has been tattooed, and she can steer the 
boat above the swift water. And Louise and Nancy 
and Amelia have been tattooed, and they are good 
rowers. They can row the boat above the bend, 
and Mr. Averill will not see them,” plotted Sarah. 
‘ 4 It is early, and before dark they can get back.” 

“You must not ask Inez; she is sad,” said 
Katy softly. Inez had been brooding at the out¬ 
skirts of the circle, taking no part in the talk. To 
have strong cause for being sad was regarded by 
these Indians girls as a distinction rather to be 
craved. According to their code of etiquette, they 
asked no questions, but consigned the mourner to 
an honored station in their ranks, and kept aloof 
from her in sympathetic silence. 

“ She need not act glad — only steer the boat. 
Will she go? Of course she will,” persisted Sarah, 
respectfully addressing Inez in the third person, 
looking to one side meanwhile. 

“ I am very sad indeed, but I will go,” sub¬ 
mitted Inez. “ But I shall not talk or smile.” 

There was a dash of venturous excitement in 
the undertaking which she could not miss, even 
for the sake of dwelling on her brother’s troubles. 
She had learned through Mario of the suspicions 
that were entertained against Alphonso, and had 
understood from Clark’s remarks that he had been 
ruled out of joining in the round-up. 


THE TATTOO ARTIST. 


51 


“ If Mr. Averill finds out, he will be so sorry 
and so quiet, just like he had heard bad news from 
home,” still scrupled Katy. “And to-night there 
is the social with the grand march and games, 
and the boys invited. If Mr. Averill does not 
punish us he will talk to us with his eyes and make 
us ashamed. And if he does punish us we shall 
be sad.” 

“ We will punish ourselves,” said Sarah. “ We 
will turn our plates down and not eat till supper¬ 
time to-morrow, to show him we are sorry that we 
had to do our ghost duty. We can drink milk and 
coffee but not taste one bite.” 

“ Tokee ! And Mr. Averill’s birthday, so there 
is a splendid dinner?” Nancy cried. 

“ And very lots of candy and a beeg red apple 
in our plates? ” Jane added. 

“ I am very hungry now, and I shall star-rve 
in all that time,” was Katy’s tragic exclamation. 

Sarah had exhausted all her arguments, and 
time was on the wing. She now resorted to deri¬ 
sion and vainglory. 

“ Those who are not brave enough to fast can 
eat rabbits’ noses and wild turnips. I am a Two 
Kettle Indian. My father and uncles have fasted 
for the sun dance. They hunted the mystery tree 
when they were very faint, but they were very 
brave. And all the people chose my mother’s 


52 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


cousin, Iron Crow, to pierce the children’s ears 
because he did not eat till he was very lean. The 
Two Kettles are good fasters.” 

Katy was subdued by this illustrious record, and 
she said no more. 

“ Those who will turn down their plates three 
times hold up this side,” Sarah raised her right 
hand. 

Every hand went up, and Sarah bowed with 
dignified approval. 

The council now adjourned to carry out the two 
wild plans, and Nancy pushed apart the sliding 
doors between the play-room and the music-room. 

“ Ee-ah ! ” she said, “ here sits the twin listening 
at the crack. She tells tales, and she will report 
to Mr. Averill.” 

The twin responded with a charming smile, dis¬ 
playing small white teeth and dancing dimples in 
her cheeks and chin. She was the tiniest of 
the five-year-olds, a weird phenomenal red-brown 
baby who had not awakened to a sense of obliga¬ 
tion, yet was alarmingly precocious. She had an 
Indian doll, arrayed in beaded finery and cradled 
in a wee red blanket, tied upon her back, and in 
her lap reposed a dainty pale-faced doll attired in 
white gauze, with a pink silk underfrock, and 
shoes and hose to match. 

“ Lam leetle, but I can spik English. I have 


THE TATTOO ARTIST. 


53 


learn to spik English in one year,” she boasted, 
with a gleam of triumph in her sharp, black eyes. 
“ I am so leetle when I came to school next year 
that the white mother rocked me to sleep bylo. 
I shall spik English all the time when I go home 
next time there be no school. And — and — I can 
tell tales and you cannot scold me, because I am 
the twin.” 

Twins are mystic beings to the Teton Indians, 
who believe they have been sent from Twinland 
as a special honor to this world. As they are of 
superhuman origin they are tenderly indulged, lest 
they become offended and die in order to return to 
Twinland. The twin sister had been snatched in 
infancy, but Alomina had been spared as sound 
material for the missionaries. 

“ Kee ! she has the new doll Mrs. Averill gave 
me from my mission box last week,” said Inez, 
breaking her resolve to mourn in silence on behold¬ 
ing Alomina’s plunder. “ I left it on the top shelf 
of my cupboard.” 

There was a row of narrow cupboards round the 
play-room, and the girls had separate nooks in which 
to keep their treasures and a portion of their 
clothes. The large girls, even those of sixteen 
years, received dolls in their mission boxes and 
they cherished them as.fondly as the little girls. 

“ I climb up on a chair and pull Morning-glory’s 


54 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


hair, and make her fall down. I can play with 
her because you are my cousin and I am your 
girl and I am the twin,” was Alomina’s calm 
reply. 

“ She will spoil Morning-glory very fast,” said 
Inez in dismay. “Just like I ought to take her,” 
and she made a hesitating reach toward the 
doll. 

Alomina crushed the waxen beauty in her arms, 
impaling Inez with a firm dart from her beady 
eyes. 

“ If you take Morning-glory, I shall cut a beeg 
ha-ole in my alboos and you will have to sew them 
because I am your girl. And you cannot scold 
me because I am the twin.” 

Inez stepped back in despair. 

“She would cut clear through her apron and 
her dress and combination sleeves, and there would 
be six elbow patches, and I could not do them well. 
Mrs. Averill would think my girl was mended 
worst of all the little girls, and I should be ashamed. 
Of course the twin could not be punished,” was her 
indiscreet acceptance of the trying situation. 

Every large and middle-sized girl had a little girl 
to care for, and as far as possible the children were 
distributed according to their sisterhood and cousin- 
hood among the older pupils. Thus to Inez fell 
the privilege of caring for the twin, and she per- 


THE TATTOO ARTIST. 


55 


formed her duty with the latent thought that she 
was scrubbing supernatural flesh when washing 
Alomina’s face and hands, and coaxing sacred 
locks into the wiry little braids which she adorned 
with gingham bows in place of ribbon. Alomina’s 
hair strings disappeared so speedily that the ex¬ 
travagance of ribbon bows was not indulged in 
save on state occasions. 

As there seemed to be no other way, the twin 
was left in full possession of the doll in the deserted 
play-room. 

“ I think she did not hear us through the crack, 
and so she cannot tell a tale this time,” said Sarah, 
as the girls were hurrying through the hall. 

Inez and her three companions started for the 
boat, which lay below the steep bluff sloping from 
the mission grounds upon the east, across a little 
stretch of sandy beach. 

The tattoo artist mixed her medicine with all 
the speed and stealth becoming her oracular pro¬ 
fession, while the candidates for the mysterious 
rite which would ensure a safe journey to the 
Many Lodges sauntered to the secret meeting- 
place by twos and threes. 

The log house was a favorite resort in which the 
girls had leave to romp at pleasure, and they knew 
it would awaken no suspicion if they were seen to 
gather there in force. The building stood upon 


56 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


the edge of a ravine some rods beyond the stile, 
and was a camping-place in winter for the Indian 
friends who visited the school. 

When Alomina found herself alone, she placidly 
undressed the pale-faced doll and laid her dainty 
garments on the floor. She then arose and pushed 
a chair against the sink, in which there was a row 
of stationary wash-bowls and a pail of water at 
one end. 

She grasped the naked doll beneath one arm, 
and climbed into the chair and dipped a liberal 
supply of water from the pail into the bowl. She 
found a cake of soap close by, and seized upon a 
wash-rag hanging near. 

“ Inez give me a bath thees day. I shall give 
Morning-glory a bath,” she chattered to herself, 
and plunged the doll into the water to its chin. 

“ Inez rub very lots of soap on me. I shall rub 
very lots of soap on Morning-glory.” 

The pink and white complexion disappeared 
beneath a coat of lather, vigorously rubbed upon 
the doll from top to toe,, then washed away with 
startling effect. 

“ Inez pour water on my head. I shall pour 
water on Morning-glory’s head.” 

The fluffy golden head was deluged with a dip¬ 
perful of water. 

When the bath had been completed to the satis- 


THE TATTOO ARTIST. 57 

faction of the twin, she wiped the doll upon the 
roller towel and alighted from the chair. 

“ She loo-k very pale. Just like she is seek,” 
viewing with concern the haggard features of the 
washed-out doll. “ I shall rock her to sleep, 
bylo.” 

She dropped upon the floor and hugged the piti¬ 
able image in her apron, swaying back and forth, 
and crooning in the soothing manner of an Indian 
mother singing to her child, “ A-wo, a-wo, a-Wo.” 

Presently she peeped into her apron, viewed the 
doll, and pulled the wire to close its eyes. 

“Now she is asleep,” she whispered, rising from 
the floor and walking on tiptoe to her cupboard, 
which she opened softly. 

She laid the doll upon a low shelf, smothered it 
beneath her Sunday petticoat, and shut the door 
by stealthy inches. Then she smiled and skipped 
across the room. 

44 Now I shall wash the white dress, and the 
pink dress, and the other clothes. And I shall 
hang them on the wood-box. Then I shall go and 
tell Meester Averill.” 


CHAPTER V. 


Lilian’s joy. 

M R. AVERILL noticed Lilian’s manner as 
she sank back in the chair in agitated 
silence, and he felt the sympathy which he might 
not express. 

He was not unmindful of the dreamy mood in 
which the young girl frequently indulged, and he 
surmised that she was musing on the strangeness 
of her history, and wondering if the mystery of 
her past would ever be explained. But the day 
dreams must not be encouraged, lest they take pos¬ 
session of her life. 

“ Lilian,” he observed, when he had given her 
a little time in which to calm herself, “ will you 
not try to live more in the present, and let the past 
be as a closed book which you must not seek to 
read? You may be sure that if God wishes you 
to read it He will open it to you according to His 
own wise purpose.” 

“I will try,” she said obediently; “but if I 
only knew one thing — ” again her courage failed. 

“ I understand,” was his reply, “ and I will 
answer you in this way: If the small white rose 


Lilian’s joy. 


59 


which Mrs. Averill has cared for through the sum¬ 
mer should by some strange fortune be transplanted 
to a wild spot with the sand-flowers, do you think 
it would be hard to know it from a sand-flower? 
It might droop and die for want of care, or be a 
very puny and imperfect little flower, but if it 
bloomed at all it would be a white rose. The 
sand-flowers have their part in nature, and are 
blooming where the wise Creator planted them, 
but the white rose does not belong with them, and 
one could never be mistaken for the other.” 

Lilian drew a long, deep breath of perfect joy, 
and Mr. Averill saw that she had grasped his 
meaning. From that moment she was on a new 
plane, and she could resist the day dreams more 
courageously. 

44 Miss Hartford tells me you are making good 
progress in your studies, and thinks that you could 
do a little more, for all you spend so much time in the 
kitchen,” he remarked. 44 Would you like to take 
a short German lesson in the afternoon with me?” 

Like Clark, Lilian had advanced beyond the 
simple studies of the school, and was taking pri¬ 
vate lessons in a high school course. 

“I should be so happy,” she replied, with lus¬ 
trous eyes. 44 If I am really and truly a white girl, 
I shall need to know so much of everything. Now 
I shall learn the whole of the beautiful 4 Skylark ’ in 


6o 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


the English classic you asked me to read, instead 
of the one sad verse I almost cried over yesterday 
when I sat alone on the bluff.” 

“ What is the one sad verse? ” he asked. 

She gave it rather timidly, but understandingly, 
and with expression : — 

“We look before and after, 

And pine for what is not; 

Our sincerest laughter 

With some pain is fraught; 

Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.” 

“That is a plaintive little stanza,” he responded, 
with a cheerful smile. “ But Shelley is not always 
gloomy. This description of the skylark’s flight 
and song at sunset would be more safe for you to 
dwell upon: — 

“In the golden lightning 
Of the sunken sun, 

O’er which clouds are brightening, 

Thou dost float and run; 

Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun.” 

There came a light tap at the door, and Mrs. 
Averill entered, leading Alomina. 

“ I met this child upon the stairs just now, and 
she seems to have a strange little tale to tell. I 
don’t quite understand her,” she puzzled as she 
closed the door. 


Lilian’s joy. 


6i 


Mr. Averill viewed the twin with serious atten¬ 
tion as she placed herself in confidential nearness 
to his knee, standing firmly in her tiny but sub¬ 
stantial government shoes. She had taken off her 
dripping apron, but her linsey-woolsey frock was 
soaked with suds and dragging weightily about her 
feet. Indeed, no part of her was dry except the 
Indian doll accoutered to her back. 

“ I doubt if she should be allowed to tell tales,” 
he observed; “the habit seems to grow upon 
her.” 

“We will try to teach her better when she is a 
little older,” Mrs. Averill replied. “ This may be 
something which we really ought to know.” 

The twin perceived that she might speak, and 
patted Mr. Averill’s knee in meditative silence 
while she strove to set in order her report. 

“The wa-na-gi is here,” she presently began; 
“ and Inez and Louise and Nancy and Amelia 
go across the reever in the boat to get some cedar 
for a wah-kon. For the ghost do not like cedar.” 

Mr. Averill stopped to hear no more. He hastily 
explained to Mrs. Averill about the lock, then 
crossed the room, and looked upon the river from 
the window. The girls had not gone far enough 
around the bend, and he could see the boat some 
way across. 

The river at this point was swift and treacherous, 


62 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


for there was a divided current flowing round a 
sand-bar. 

“ They are daring,” he observed in strenuous 
quietude. “ If they should row into the whirl 
between the two currents they would have hard 
work. I will try to call them back.” 

He stepped into the other hall and pulled the 
bell-rope, and the bell sent out a quick, decisive 
summons from the little tower. 

The small girls in the graveyard ceased their 
search for beads and scampered down hill, and 
the tiny teepes by the wood-pile were deserted, 
while the little campers started for the house. 
The school had been well trained to promptly 
obey the bell, wherever it was heard. 

But the girls upon the river, after resting on 
their oars a minute, pushed on for the other shore. 

Mr. Averill came back and kept close watch of 
them with Mrs. Averill and Lilian. 

“ There is no other boat except the leaky one, 
and I have no way to follow them,” he said. 

“ Inez understands a boat as well as any of the 
boys, and the other girls are strong and fearless,” 
Mrs. Averill assured him. 

But she shared his tense anxiety until the boat 
had touched the sands upon the other side. The 
girls secured it and scud into a gorge among the 
bleak hills where the cedar grew. 


Lilian’s joy. 


63 

“ They will probably return as safely as they 
went,” he trusted, giving Lilian, whom he saw in 
mute distress, a kindly look. 

Alomina pulled his sleeve. Her tale was only 
half told and she wished to finish it. 

“ Some other girls are at the log house, and 
Sarah Spider is tattooing them, for the old woman 
in the short road will poosh them from a cloud if 
they be not tattooed.” 

“ Oh, how soon the trouble has begun ! ” cried 
Lilian. “It is all because I have the lock. If 
you had taken it from me — and — I couldn’t have 
helped myself — and put it in the stove, perhaps 
it wouldn’t have been a broken promise and the 
girls might have been quieted. It isn’t that they 
really want to disobey. They are dear, good girls, 
you know.” 

“You may put it in your trunk,” was Mr. 
Averill’s answer as he turned to leave the office. 

She took the lock into the long, dim attic where 
her trunk was kept among some packing boxes 
and disabled furniture. The trunks belonging to 
the Indian girls were in the lavatory and the closets 
which adjoined the dormitories; hence the girls 
would have no need of venturing into the attic, 
which would be a mystic place to them when they 
discovered that the lock was there. She put the 
bag into an empty box inside her trunk and went 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


64 

below, to find the small girls in a hungry line out¬ 
side the kitchen waiting for the bread which she 
distributed at four o’clock. The twin stood first. 
She drew the child into the kitchen, giving her a 
generous crust. 

“ I must change your clothes,” when she had 
fed the other children and dispersed them. “ You’ve 
been playing in the water, and I am afraid you 
have been very naughty.” 

“Of course I do not mind Inez. And I make 
Morning-glory seek. But of course I shall mind 
you,” Alomina answered sweetly. 

Lilian had a way of managing the sacred twin 
which caused the Indian girls much wonder and 
alarm. She did not have their firm opinion that 
the midget was of superhuman origin, and she 
dealt with her according to the rules which govern 
natural flesh and blood. 

In the log house the tattoo work was going 
bravely on. The girls were seated oil the floor, 
Katy, Jane, and Hester wedged against the door 
to guard against intrusion. Sarah had selected 
three girls who had been tattooed as her assistants. 
The task of pricking in the medicine was slow and 
irritating. The needles drew blood, but the can¬ 
didates endured it with savage stoicism, for the 
most part, though a civilized squeal was heard by 
snatches when the needle probed too deep. 



KATY, JANE, AND HESTER WEDGED AGAINST THE DOOR TO GUARD AGAINST INTRUSION. 








Lilian’s joy. 


65 

“ I shall have seex very beeg spots in the meedle 
of my forehead,” fanatically declared Jane when 
her time drew near. She viewed with scorn the 
few dots on the arms which Sarah and her helpers 
had thus far accomplished in the way of sacred 
decoration. The large girls were assigned three 
moderate dots, and the middle-sized girls two of 
rather less importance. 

“ Kee ! ” objected Sarah. “ Mr. Averill would 
see them, and you would always look like a wild 
Indian. And you may go East and get very civil¬ 
ized, like Katy,” with some irony. “You are a 
middle-sized girl, and you can only have two 
middle-sized dots. The old woman in the short 
road has sharp eyes, and does not care about a big 
tattoo.” 

“ I do not know if I am a meedle-size,” queried 
Jane, who was a twelve-year-old full Indian girl, 
much overgrown. “ When I go with the meedle- 
size the long girls will say, ‘ You are a long girl. 
You should go with us.’ And when I go with the 
long girls the meedle-size will say, ‘ You are a 
young girl. You should go with us.’ And so I 
do not know what kind I am. Meeses Averill say 
I can choose what kind, and she will tell the 
girls.” 

“I would be a middle-size,” advised Katy. 
“Then if you do wrong and Mrs. Averill thinks 


66 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


of sending you to bed when it is daytime, Mr. 
Averill will say, 4 1 would not punish Jane this time, 
my dear. She is a middle-sized girl and she does 
not know much better. ’ ” 

“Then I shall be a meedle-size,” decided Jane. 
44 But I would like the long girl’s arms and naik to 
my new dress,” relinquishing with regret the more 
elaborate sleeves and collar of the older girls. 

4 4 1 shall only have one very little dot away up 
on my arm,” said Katy, who was putting off the 
operation with a deal of dread. She had a guilty 
feeling that the one small dot would be a glaring 
mark of barbarism that could never be effaced. 

44 I, too,” said Hester; 44 and I do not know if 
my mother would like that. She has been con¬ 
verted, and she wants to walk in the new road with 
her children.” 

44 Meester Averill say we all must have a con¬ 
science,” Jane remembered. “Katy and Hester 
have a very stylish conscience.” 

Jane had lately been promoted in sewing from 
the patchwork class into the dressmaking ranks, 
and was wrestling with stylish costumes for her 
little sister and herself. Everything remarkable 
was now discussed by her as stylish. 

44 You should not talk about a conscience as if 
it was a sleeves and neck,” corrected Katy. 44 And 
you must say, 4 Mister Averill says,’ not 4 Meester 


Lilian’s joy. 


67 

Averill say.’ You do not speak good English. 
You have much to learn, but you are very young, 
and there is time enough.” 

Just then the bell rang and there was a sudden 
scrambling to the feet. 

“ It does not mean us,” Sarah said. “ Mr. 
Averill must have found that the girls have gone 
for the wah-kon, and rings for them.” 

“But all must run when they hear the bell,” 
said Katy. 

“ You must not go till you have been tattooed,” 
commanded Sarah, seizing Katy’s arm to pull her 
back. “ I will do you now. The girls that we 
have tattooed may be excused,” with majesty. 

But the sacred mischief was so fascinating that 
the tattooed girls were forced to linger in defiance 
of the bell. 

Katy yielded to the sway of the imperious Sarah 
and received the mark, Hester following her 
example. As they were pulling down their sleeves 
a well-known step was heard without. Then came 
a knock upon the door which could not be mis¬ 
taken. 


CHAPTER VI. 


clark’s disclosure. 

E VERY girl was on her feet and every sleeve in 
place when Mr. Averill was admitted, but 
the conscious faces of the girls and the little pool 
of medicine, which Sarah had upset upon the floor 
in springing up, convinced him that the twin’s re¬ 
port had been correct. He stood upon the thresh- 
hold, looking at the girls in silence, while, as 
Katy had foretold, his strong, gray eyes spoke 
volumes. 

“ They are very little dots — and they are hidden 
by our sleeves,” she faltered, moved to quick con¬ 
fession. 

“ Are they so very small that they are hidden 
from your hearts, my girls? ” he seriously inquired, 
with a glance that swept the group. 

There was a breathless hush, while every head 
was dropped as if in self-reproach, then all but 
Katy gave a whirl, in startling unison, and turned 
their backs. She faced the difficulty, with her 
dark eyes fixed contritely on the toes of Mr. Aver- 
ill’s shoes. 

“ But we were afraid of the old woman in the 


68 


CLARK'S DISCLOSURE. 69 

short road, for the Bible says, ‘ In the midst of life 
we are in death,’ ” she argued timidly. 

Doubtless it was well for Mr. Averill’s influence 
that his pupils did not see the flicker of a smile 
that crept into his eyes at this upholding of the 
pagan faith by a passage from the Christian Bible. 

The mission girls were well instructed in the 
Psalms and the New Testament, and many of 
them had a store of Bible verses which they fre¬ 
quently rehearsed in reverent tones to one another. 

The flicker of a smile was banished instantly, 
and Mr. Averill earnestly remarked : — 

“ Lilian has a lock of hair to keep until next 
spring. She has put it in her trunk, and you need 
not have the slightest fear of it. It is simply a 
lock of the great-grandmother’s hair, and not her 
ghost. I wish you would believe me, girls, when 
I assure you that the spirits of those who have 
died cannot come back, and there has never been 
a ghost, and never will be while the sun shines, 
and the grass grows, and the snow falls, and there 
are plains, and hills, and rivers.” 

“ Tokee ! ” responded his averted audience in a 
dissenting whisper. 

He said no more, but quietly dismissed the girls 
and hastened to the bluff to watch for the return¬ 
ing boat. 

The cedar gatherers came back in safety, with 


7 o 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


suspicious bundles in their shawls upon their backs. 
They avoided Mr. Averill and placed them in their 
cupboards, and before dark every pupil, to the tots 
of five years, had a cedar twig somewhere about 
her, as a charm, or wah-kon. 

“ I suppose, if I were in due haste to solve the 
Indian problem, I should make a little bonfire of 
the wah-kon, and discipline the girls who went for 
it, together with the tattoo party,” Mr. Averill said 
to Mrs. Averill as she came upstairs from helping 
Lilian overseethe work of getting supper; “but 
cedar seems to be considered a necessary charm 
among the Teton Indians. They burn it in elec¬ 
tric storms to keep the thunder bird from flapping 
its wings too hard, and it is used in many sacred 
rites, probably because the red cedar is supposed 
to have been the first tree discovered by the gods. 
Indeed, the Sioux would think their welfare in jeop¬ 
ardy if they were not abundantly supplied with 
charms of cedar, wild sage, and white feathers. 
We must make haste slowly with these Indian chil¬ 
dren,” was his charitable opinion. 

“ After all,” said Mrs. Averill, “ a sprig of 
cedar in the pocket or beneath the pillow of an 
Indian girl is quite in keeping with the horse- 
chestnut which a staid New England church- 
woman of my acquaintance slyly carries in her 
pocket as a guard against rheumatism.” 


clark’s disclosure. 71 

“And I happen to know that my instructor in 
Greek at college prefers not to walk under a lad¬ 
der. If, by accident, he does, I fancy he is 
tempted to sit down to turn his luck before pro¬ 
ceeding on his way,” was Mr. Av.erill’s further plea 
for his benighted Indian girls. 

“And you remember Cousin Marian, who is a 
graduate of Vassar, urged us not to start upon our 
wedding journey to the reservation camp school 
four years ago yesterday, because it was Friday.” 

“Perhaps she feared that we would travel on 
Sunday,” was his kind excuse. 

“ No ; she knew we were to visit Aunt Lovina, 
in Chicago, over Sunday. But the worst has not 
been told. I allowed Dolphus to plant the potatoes 
in the dark of the moon last spring—while you 
were at the agency.” There was a penitent ex¬ 
pression on the young matron’s girlish face. “ He 
was anxious that our first mission crop should be 
a grand success — and it was ! ” 

“ There was more rain than usual on the plains 
this year,” smiled Mr. Averill. “ I fear I shall 
need to discipline you, by taking care to oversee 
the planting of the next potato crop myself. But 
the question is decided. Since an educated por¬ 
tion of the white race is inclined to dabble in the 
black art, there must be exceptions to the rule of 
discipline as it relates to Indian children. Our 


72 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


superstitious girls shall not be sent to bed supper¬ 
less to-night, as I premeditated, and the social may 
be held while we await results.” 

But less than two hours later, Clark rode up, 
and peered into the windows of the play-room and 
the music-room to find no merry girls in company 
array. Lilian met him at the door as he dis¬ 
mounted. 

“ I heard there was to be a frolic over here this 
evening, and I’ve come in cowboy finery,” he said. 
“ I couldn’t bring my dress suit on the forced 
march, and I didn’t want to miss the fun.” 

“ You’ll miss it, anyhow,” regretted she. “ The 
large and middle-sized girls went to bed without 
a bite of supper, when the kitchen work was fin¬ 
ished, of their own accord. They’d broken two 
rules, — going after cedar, and tattooing twelve 
girls, because of the wa-na-gi,— and they thought 
they needed punishing.” 

Clark whistled in surprise. 

“ Isn’t it a queer state of conscience for a lot 
of Indian girls to think they need punishing?” he 
asked. 

“ No; our girls are all that way. Even Sarah 
Spider, who persuades, the girls to do so many 
things they shouldn’t, has a very tender con¬ 
science,” trusted Lilian. “And she can say so 
many psalms, word for word. Mr. Averill 


clark’s disclosure. 


73 


doesn’t know it, but the girls intend to fast until 
to-morrow night, and there’s to be a splendid 
dinner in honor of his birthday. Inez made the 
squash pies, and you’d want to eat a whole one if 
you took one taste. And Hester’s pot roast is to 
be delicious. Only think how hard ’twill be to 
have to smell it and not eat it.” 

“Ah!—excuse me,—but I mustn’t think of 
it,” exclaimed Clark, and he thumped his stomach 
with a hungry sigh. 

“The girls had planned so much about the 
social, and they had the corn all popped. Mrs. 
Averill had given all of them a lovely new hair- 
ribbon and a hemstitched handkerchief, and they 
were to wear their pretty new dresses from the 
mission boxes. Katy has a blue dress, with the 
dearest little jacket and crushed collar, and Inez 
has a red dress, with a velvet yoke and cuffs. 
They would have looked too sweet for anything.” 

Clark sat down upon the step to ponder on the 
situation, while he held his pony by the bridle. 

“ Quite a party of the boys are on the way. 
They have a gun, with which to scare the ghost. 
They are all dressed up in shoe blacking, and the 
sweetest smelling hair-oil, and their hair is parted 
very straight. Mario has on his best coat, with the 
prettiest black-eyed Susans, which he means to 
give to Katy, in his buttonhole. He has a cherry 


74 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


necktie sprigged with yellow, and he looks too 
cute to live. Their hopes will be like Katy’s 
collar,” copying Lilian’s admiration and regret. 

“Well, tie your pony and come in,” she 
laughed. “ Mrs. Averill is playing on the organ 
in the music-room, and we can visit in the play¬ 
room for a little while.” 

“Wait a bit. I’ll meet the boys and send them 
back. ’Twill save them something of a walk and 
keep the girls from laughing at them from behind 
the curtains,” and he vaulted to the saddle and 
rode off. 

He soon returned and came into the play-room, 
where he hung his monstrous hat upon a hook, 
and took a seat with Lilian on a bench. 

“ I met them in the hollow by the dug-out, and, 
upon my word, I think they weren’t so sorry, after 
all, to turn round on account of the wa-na-gi. 
They kept as close together as a flock of sheep. 
Mario was on his bronco, but he didn’t ride ahead 
of the walkers. 

“Isn’t it too dreadful that I have to be the 
keeper? Mrs. Averill is distressed because the 
girls have acted so. Of course she could have 
made them dress and stay downstairs, but they 
wouldn’t have smiled or talked the whole evening. 
And if she’d tried to have the grand march, they 
would have hung their heads and walked side- 


clark’s disclosure. 


75 


ways and all out of step. They can be so graceful, 
or so very awkward, just as they are in the mood.” 

Lilian sighed, as if she shared the burden of the 
faculty in dealing with the wayward Teton maids. 

“ Upon the whole, I’m rather glad that you and 
I are white,” Clark said complacently. 

“ Oh, do you know, I’ve never been quite sure 
that I was not an Indian until this very afternoon? 
Mr. Averill has convinced me, — and I am so 
proud and happy ! ” 

“Bless me! have you had a doubt of that?” 
surprised at her short-sightedness. “I’ve known 
all along that you weren’t a little Miss Lo.” 

“ How could you be sure? Alma Parsons is an 
Indian, for all she has blue eyes, and light hair, and 
a freckled face as white as yours or mine.” 

“ But Alma dotes on Indian hash and rosebud 
porridge, and I met her going to the agency this 
morning with a shawl on her head. Her dress 
was greasy, and the freckles didn’t show for want 
of soap and water.” 

“Oh, dear! and she was here in school eight 
years, and only left last spring. She is but 
quarter Indian, and she learns as quickly as a 
white girl. She might have gone to Carlisle and 
been fitted to become a teacher or a field matron, 
and gone about the reservation doing sights of 
good.” 


7 6 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


Lilian stopped to think about the saddest feature 
of the Indian problem, — that so many bright, 
industrious pupils, after spending years in school, 
slip back into the sloth and gloom so natural to 
the Indian race. She remembered favorite pupils 
who had left school seemingly well fitted to exert 
a civilizing influence in the reservation home, but 
had returned from time to time on camping visits 
in a pitifully changed condition. That they had 
proved unequal to the task of grappling with the 
difficulties that beset them in the Indian hut was 
shown by the untidy clothes, the grimy skin, the 
tousled, drooping head, the silent tongue, the 
drear expression of the bright eyes so alert with 
interest in the happy school-days. 

“ But there’s hope for Alma yet,” Clark inter¬ 
rupted Lilian’s mournful reverie to observe. “She 
was on the verge of marrying a long-haired Indian 
last Sunday, but she changed her mind and ran out 
of church when the Indian clergyman began the 
ceremony. Aunt Losa was invited to the wedding.” 

“ I’m glad she changed her mind before it was 
too late,” laughed Lilian. “ Now, if she would 
only change it once more and go to Carlisle, and 
stay five years, she might come back all out of 
danger of backsliding.” 

“Perhaps her narrow escape from the long¬ 
haired Indian will be a warning that she’d better 


clark’s disclosure. 


77 


continue her education,” Clark observed. “ See 
here — to change the subject: Aunt Losa has 
been growing confidential lately,— we were always 
on good terms, you know, — and she has told me 
something that may lead to a discovery. Have 
you ever wondered what became of the things you 
wore when you fell into the Swift Birds’ hands?” 

“ Oh, so many times, when I was old enough 
to think about it, after I had come to school. But 
when I asked Mother Swift Bird where I came 
from, and what I wore, she would tell me that 
The Old Woman Who Never Dies sent me from 
the far North with the wild birds when they flew 
South for the winter, and I was dressed like a 
gray duck.” 

“ Something soft and downy, of a gray color?” 
queried Clark. 

“ It must be that. She said she dressed me 
very quickly in her own child’s clothes which she 
always carried with her while in mourning, and 
only Father Swift Bird and herself saw me as a 
duck. She told me if I talked about it, I would 
turn into a duck and fly back North with the birds 
in the spring. And when we heard the wild geese 
quacking in the air one time, she said they were 
scolding me because I wished to see my duck’s 
dress ; but I knew that wasn’t possible.” 

“ Probably she was so sly about the things 


78 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


because she thought you might be claimed by 
some one and identified by them. She told Aunt 
Losa, when she knew she wouldn’t live, that she had 
hidden them about the river bluffs, when camping 
here some years ago. She said it was within a 
gunshot of the mission, but Aunt Losa doesn’t 
seem to know where. She claimed to have had a 
dream that told her to hide the things, and draw 
a chart to describe the place, and she gave the 
chart to Aunt Losa, telling her you were to have 
it when the plums had ripened nine times after you 
had come to school.” 

“ Oh ! I came to school nine years ago this fall 
— and the plums are ripe now — and almost gone. 
Did you bring the chart?” said Lilian eagerly. 

“No. Aunt Losa showed it to me, but she 
must have thought, as she was forced to trust me 
with the ghost-lock, that was quite enough. She’ll 
deliver it herself within a week or so. But I doubt 
if you can make much out of it. An Indian draw¬ 
ing isn’t easy to interpret, and the hieroglyphics 
look like birds’ tracks in the mud.” 

“ But we can surely hunt and hunt until we find 
the things, if they are within a gunshot of the 
mission. O Clark ! there may be something that 
will prove just who I am. What if there should be 
a little ring that has my real name on it? or a tiny 
bit of locket — with — my own, own mother’s pic- 


clark’s disclosure. 


79 

ture in it?” Lilian caught her breath and almost 
sobbed. 

Clark was still a moment, struggling with his 
own emotions. 

“ I wish we could begin to search to-night,” she 
said, with feverish anxiety. 

“Too dark,” was his objection. “And we’d 
better wait and get the chart. We must go slow 
and keep quiet, or ’twill be like Captain Kidd’s 
treasure — everybody will be digging for it, and 
you may be robbed of it.” 

“What about Captain Kidd’s treasure?” she 
inquired. 

“ Constellations ! — have you never heard about 
the bloody pirate ? ” he exclaimed in great sur¬ 
prise. “That comes of being captured by the 
Indians in one’s infancy. The lateness of the 
hour, and a peculiar weakness known as word 
failure, prevent my doing full justice to the great 
financier, but I’ll try to give a brief synopsis of 
Kidd’s business career.” 

“ I’m not quite sure that I know the meaning of 
financier,” said Lilian, looking puzzled. 

“No? Well, a financier, as clearly as I can 
define it, is one who has a faculty for getting hold 
of what belongs to some one else. The woods are 
full of them in the Indian country, and you’d 
bump against one in the cities every time you 


8o 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


turned a corner. The city fellows wear silk hats 
and carry gold-headed canes, as a rule. They’re 
apt to travel out this way in special cars. Kidd 
had a different way of dealing, but ’twas on the 
same principle.” 

Thereupon he skimmed through the story of the 
noted bandit of the seas, curdling her blood by his 
narration. 

Clark’s disclosure of the secret as to the disposal 
of the baby clothes was a marked event in Lilian’s 
life. It had a most important bearing on her past 
and her future. 


CHAPTER VII. 


MYTHS 


HEN Lilian went upstairs to bed, she found 



the lamp extinguished in the large and 


middle-sized girls’ dormitory, and the occupants 
apparently asleep. The muslin curtains had been 
drawn and pinned together, but the glimmer of a 
new moon sifted through them and revealed the 
white beds and the outlines of the moveless forms 
beneath the bedclothes. 

Lilian closed the door and stepped into the pas¬ 
sage between the two long rows of beds, and was 
about to steal on tiptoe to her separate little com¬ 
partment at the further end of the dormitory, when 
a score of white-gowned figures started up in bed 
and braced themselves against the headboards, 
with pillows at their backs. 

“We thought it might be Mrs. Averill,” said 
Sarah, who was near the door, with Nancy. “You 
need not tell us that the boys have not been here. 
We saw Clark come and go without them.” 

“They were on the way,” said Lilian, “but 
Clark sent them back.” 

“ Ee ! we know that,” Sarah answered wisely. 


81 


82 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“ They were dressed up very nice. Their shoes 
were blacked. Their hair was parted very 
straight. Mario had on a cherry necktie sprigged 
with yellow. He was bringing Katy a bouquet of 
black-eyed Susans.” 

Katy hid beneath the bed clothes in confusion, 
while the score of girls repeated Sarah’s closing 
statement in a measured tone, as if they had re¬ 
hearsed it for a concert recitation : — 

‘ ‘ He — was — bringing — Katy — a — bouquet 
— of — black-eyed — Susans.” 

“We shoved the window up a crack and lis¬ 
tened, like the twin,” said Nancy. “ That was not 
polite, but we are Indians, and we are different.” 

“We must be still or Mrs. Averill will come and 
say for us to go to sleep,” warned Hester from the 
further end; “Amelia then can tell us no more 
Indian stories.” 

Amelia was distinguished as the myth-teller of 
the school. Her mind was stored with Indian 
folk-lore, which had been poured out to her from 
earliest childhood by her great-aunt, Ski-bi-bi-la, 
who was a medicine woman, and was thought to 
talk with trees and gain from them a knowledge of 
performing wondrous cures, detecting wrongdoers, 
and recovering lost or stolen property. 

Amelia knew delightful tales of sky, and wind, 
and water people, and talking birds, and animals, 


MYTHS. 


83 


which Lilian loved to hear. As it was only half¬ 
past eight,— not quite the usual bedtime, —she sat 
down on the bed with Katy and Louise to listen. 

4 4 She has just told about the little wolves with 
the red necklaces, whose father sang a beautiful 
song, and made a fog come, so the man who had 
been kind to the cubs could steal his enemies’ 
horses,” Katy said to Lilian. “ Now she is to 
tell a ghost story.” 

“Oh, she ought not,” Lilian said; “it will 
frighten you, and Mr. Averill and Mrs. Averill 
wouldn’t like it.” 

“ Kee ! there is no rule against it before bed¬ 
time,” Sarah said ; “ we all want to be scared very 
lots.” 

“Two Faces and Four Ears will scare you very 
lots,” announced the myth-teller. 

“ THE FOUR-EARED GIANT.” 

“ Once there was a very big giant, named the 
Anung-ite,” she began. “He had two faces, one 
before and one behind. He went along kicking 
the ground, and all the people heard him. When 
he kicked with one foot, bells would ring, and an 
owl would hoot. When he kicked with the other, 
just like a buffalo was snorting very mad. When, 
again, he stepped, a chickadee would sing, and 
next all kinds of animals would make a noise. 


§4 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“ So big were the Anung-ite’s four ears that 
each one would hold three men. Everybody was 
afraid to go outdoors at night, for, if they met 
Two Faces, he would toss them into his ear and 
walk off with them, and never bring them back. 

“There was a very bad boy, who would not 
mind his mother. So one night she said, ‘ I will 
put you out of the lodge and the Anung-ite will 
toss you into his ear.’ She did not think the 
giant was around, and she only meant to scare 
the boy. But he kept on acting mean, and, very 
cross she got, and pushed him out of the lodge, 
and would not let him come back. He ran 
around the lodge crying, and then it was very still. 

“Then his mother went to hunt for him, but 
she could not find him. And next day her hus¬ 
band helped her hunt, but no one had seen the 
boy. And they came back to their lodge and 
cried many days. One night, when the mother 
was crying, she heard some one say : —- 

“ ‘ Hin ! hin ! you said to me, — Ghost, take 
that one. Hin ! hin ! ’ 

“Then she heard some small bells rattle. 

“ ‘ Husband,’ said she, ‘ I think now that a 
ghost has taken our.son.’ 

“‘You gave him to the ghost,’ said he, ‘and 
of course he has taken him. It serves you 
right.’ 


MYTHS. 


85 


“Then the mother cried again. ‘ He is in the 
Anung-ite’s ear,’ said she, ‘ and I shall try to get 
him.’ 

“So the next night she hid in the wood-pile 
with a knife in her hand. She heard something 
whistling and crying, ‘ Hin ! Hin ! ’ and saw the 
giant come and stand by the lodge. He was so 
long that he could look down the smoke hole at 
the top. She jumped out and caught hold of his 
leg with both hands and screamed to her hus¬ 
band, who came very fast. They cut the giant’s 
legs, and stuck a sharp stick into one, and pulled 
him down and tied him very strong. They kept 
him till the dark was gone; then they saw he was 
a very frightful monster, with a coat of long, thick 
hair, except on his faces. They split his ears 
and found their son in one of them. But he was 
very lean and weak, and he had begun to turn 
into an Anung-ite, so he only lived a little 
while. 

“As soon as they had taken out their son they 
piled very lots of sticks on the fire, and pulled the 
giant onto them, and very fast he was all on fire. 
And they were glad to see him burn. Many 
things flew out of the fire — all round — like 
sparks. There were porcupine quills, bags, 
feathers, arrows, pipes, birds, axes, war clubs, 
necklaces, all kinds of beads — ” the myth-teller 


86 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


closed the list for want of breath, while a pleasur¬ 
able horror filled the dormitory. 

“ That scares us very lots, but not enough,” said 
Jane, with chattering teeth. 

“ Can you not tell one much more frightful?” 
thirsted Sarah. 

“ Tokee ! how hard you are to scare this night,” 
exclaimed the myth-teller in amazement. “ I 
shall tell one more —a very, very hideous one indeed 
— about a man ghost that was all bare bones, 
without a speck of skin and flesh.” 

“ Dear me, please don’t, Amelia,” Lilian said. 
“ The girls won’t sleep a wink all night.” 

But the Bone Ghost was demanded in a clamor¬ 
ous whisper from all sides, and the myth-teller 
plunged into the gruesome tale. 

“ THE BONE GHOST.” 

“Once a young man went alone on the war¬ 
path. And at night he lay down in the woods. 
He heard a voice, that sounded like a woman’s, 
crying in the middle of the night, ‘ My son! my 
son ! ’ But he stayed right where he was, and kept 
putting wood on the fire. He lay with his back to 
the fire, and had his gun close by. He tore a hole 
in his blanket large enough to peep through. 

“ Soon he saw coming what looked like a 
woman. She wore a skin dress with a long 


MYTHS. 87 

fringe. A buffalo robe was fastened round her 
waist — this way.” 

Amelia suddenly stood upon the bed, and seized 
the bed blanket, pinning it about her waist. 

44 She had a necklace of very large beads, and 
her leggings were covered with porcupine quills. 
Her robe was pulled over her head this way.” 

The myth-teller hid her head beneath the blanket 
and stepped down on the floor. 

44 The man lay very still, with his legs stretched 
out. She came and stood by him.” 

Here Amelia glided down the passage till she 
stood by Sarah, who adroitly slipped beneath the 
bedclothes, keeping one ear open. 

44 She took him by one foot and raised it ver-r-y 
sl-o-o-w. She let go of it, and it fell as if he was 
dead. Two times more she raised it—but just as 
still as Sarah was the man. Then she pulled 
a rusty knife from the front of her belt, and 
grabbed his foot — this way,” clutching Sarah’s 
foot beneath the bedclothes. 44 She was going to 
lift it up and cut it, when the man jumped up 
and shouted: — 

44 4 What are you doing? ’ 

44 And he shot her very quick. Away she ran, 
crying : — 

4 4 4 Yun ! yun ! yun ! yun ! yun ! yun ! ’ ” 

Lost in the excitement of the moment, Amelia 


88 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


fled along the whole length of the passage, crying 
like the wounded ghost. 

“ Ee ! you must not— they will hear you in the 
teachers’ part—and Mrs. Averill will come,” 
said Inez from the end bed, falling weakly down 
at the approaching terror, and waking the twin, 
who slept with her. 

“ The man lay down and covered up his head, 
but he could not sleep,” went on the myth-teller, 
winding in and out among the beds. ‘‘When 
dark was gone, he raised his eyes and saw a 
burial scaffold just above him, with the blankets 
and everything ragged and dangling. And he 
thought: — 

“ ‘ Is this the ghost that came to me? ’ ” 

Suddenly a light was seen emerging from the 
teacher’s hall and shining through the transom. 

“ Mrs. Averill! ” was the whispered warning. 

Amelia dived into the nearest bed, and the score 
of girls went down beneath the covers. 

Lilian felt herself pulled crosswise of the bed 
and smothered in a quilt by Katy and Louise. 

Mrs. Averill stepped into the dormitory with the 
lamp in hand, looking round with much concern. 

“ Did any one cry or call?” she asked. 

As there was no response, and all appeared to 
be asleep, she turned away, to meet Miss Hartford 
hastening through the hall. 


MYTHS. 


89 


44 Is any one hurt or ill?” she said anxiously. 

44 1 don’t know,” Mrs. Averill replied. 44 We 
heard cries, most distinctly, in our room. They 
seemed to come from the north dormitory, but all 
is quiet in there.” 

44 1 heard them, and I fancied from the sound 
that some one was in pain. They must have 
come from another dormitory.” 

They passed across the hall and through the 
middle and south dormitories where the small girls 
slept. 

44 Perhaps some child was crying in her sleep,” 
said Mrs. Averill, as they discovered nothing. 

44 And the young man knew the ghost had come 
from the burial scaffold,” resumed the myth-teller 
when she could safely take the floor again. 4< An¬ 
other night he had to stay in the woods. Of course 
he made a bright fire and sat down by it. 

44 All at once he heard some very loud whistling. 
He shouted, 4 Who comes there?’ but got no 
answer. The man had some wasna ” (pounded 
dried buffalo meat and wild cherries mixed with 
grease) 44 and very lots of tobacco. So when the 
whistler, who was a man ghost, came and asked 
for food, he gave him some, and filled a pipe for 
him. It was the same ghost that the man had 
shot. It had been just cheating, — like it was a 
woman. 


9 ° 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“ When the ghost had eaten the wasna, he took 
the pipe and held it by the stem, and the man saw 
his hand was bones, without a speck of skin and 
flesh. And his robe fell off to his waist, and he 
was all bare bones. When the ghost smoked he 
did not open his lips, but the smoke poured out 
through his ribs. Then the ghost said to the 
man: — 

“‘Ho! we must wrestle together. If you 
throw me, you shall kill your enemies and steal 
their horses.’ 

“ And the man said he would wrestle, and made 
up a big fire. Then the ghost rushed at him” — 
again the myth-teller swept the passage, bringing 
up beside Jane — “ and grabbed him with his bony 
hands—this way.” 

“ Ee-ah ! do not grab me. I am scare enough 
thees time,” gasped Jane, recoiling from the out¬ 
stretched hands. 

The myth-teller kindly spared Jane, seeing that 
her greed for horrors was appeased, and glided 
back to Sarah. 

“And grabbed him with his bony hands”; 
reechoing the clause that she might seize the latter 
victim. “ Of course he pinched him very hard — 
this way.” If Sarah was in agony, she did not 
wince. “ But the man was very brave, like Sarah. 
He tried to push off the ghost, who had strong legs. 


MYTHS. 


9 1 


When the ghost was dragged near the fire he got 
weak, but when he dragged the man into the dark 
he got strong again. 

“The man was so busy fighting he could not 
stop to tend the fire, and it kept getting lower and 
lower, and the ghost kept getting stronger and 
stronger. 

“At last the man got so tired he thought he 
could not fight any more, but just then he saw it 
was getting day. Very hard once more he tried, 
and dragged the ghost near the fire and kicked a 
stick onto the coals. Once more the fire blazed 
up, and the ghost fell down and his bones all came 
apart—this way.” 

The myth-teller collapsed on the bed, to feel a 
shudder stir the covers separating her from Sarah, 
and to hear a smothered shriek from Nancy. 

“After that, when the man went to war, he 
could always kill his enemies and steal their 
horses. And that is why the Indians believe what 
ghosts have said,” was the happy conclusion when 
the myth-teller had arisen from her disjointed 
state. 

“Dear me! do go to sleep this minute, girls,” 
begged Lilian, in dismay that she had lent her 
presence to the hide-and-seek performance, with 
results surprising to herself. 

For all she knew that myths and legends were 


9 2 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


impossible, she had really felt no slight anxiety for 
the rescue of the small rogue from the giant’s 
cavernous ear, and had been as highly wrought up 
as the others by the myth-teller’s dramatic persona¬ 
tion of the Bone Ghost. 

“I shall talk no more, for I am very weak 
inside,” declared Amelia, going back to bed ex¬ 
hausted by the play of her emotions on an empty 
stomach. “ I wish I had the wasna that the Bone 
Ghost ate.” 

“ I, too,” was the united murmur from all sides. 

“ Shee ! you must not wish to eat now,” Sarah 
said. “ Two times more have we to fast.” 

“But we can wish for the Indian hash, if we 
do not eat it,” Nancy stretched her conscience to 
observe. 

Lilian sought her corner to retire in haste; but 
while she was unbuttoning her shoes she heard 
strange sounds resembling hollow whistles, fre¬ 
quently cut off and then renewed, arising from 
below the windows. 

There was a quick stir in the dormitory. Lilian 
looked and saw the girls all peering from behind 
the window curtains. She made a peep-hole 
through her curtains, joining in the reconnoitre. 
She drew a short, sharp breath at what she saw. 

A frightful vision flitted in the shadow of the 
building, giving out the singular whistles. 


MYTHS. 93 

“The wa-na-gi! — the ghost walk!” said the 
girls in shrill, excited whispers. 

“ The wah-kon — burn the wah-kon ! ” 

There had been no fire for several days, but the 
stove was full of litter gleaned from sweeping, and 
there was kindling in the woodbox. There were 
matches in the safe above the bureau, and Amelia 
flew to get one, while a dozen hands stuffed in the 
kindlings and collected cedar twigs. In a trice a 
fire was started and the twigs were laid upon the 
stove. A suffocating smoke arose and Sarah ven¬ 
tured to a window, raising it to let the fumes float 
down and drive the shape away. 

“It ^ill not go — it stays right there,” was her 
alarming report. 

“ Shoes and moccasins ; they will smell worse,” 
said Amelia wildly. 

Several shoes were fished out from beneath the 
beds and set upon the stove, while Jane and Nancy 
groped for moccasins in the closet. Very soon a 
sickening odor of burnt leather mingled with the 
fumes arising from the cedar. 

But the vision lingered, keeping up the weird, 
sepulchral whistles. 

“ I’ll shoot it with the gun ! ” determined Sarah 
rashly, as a last resort. 

Mr. Averill’s gun was in a closet in a private 
section of the upper hall. The door was unlocked 


94 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


as the key had been mislaid and Mr. Averill had 
no thought that any girl would venture to intrude 
upon his ammunition closet. 

Sarah wrapped herself in a blanket and pushed 
away the bed with which the door was barricaded, 
darting for the gun. She was back within a min¬ 
ute with the loaded weapon. Lilian was aghast, 
but powerless to hinder her. 

The ghostly figure was now whistling between 
the two end windows, one of which was close to 
Lilian’s corner. Sarah rushed that way, Amelia 
scurrying ahead to raise the window. 

In her eagerness to carry out the Indians’ usual 
method of dispelling specters, Sarah had the gun 
all pointed, with her finger on the spring. Some 
one jogged her elbow, and there was a most ap¬ 
palling flash and crash that seemed to rend the 
dormitory. 


CHAPTER VIII. 


FASTING 



l HE superintendent and his wife were reading 


1 in their room when the explosion in the dor¬ 
mitory reached their ears. 

“ A gun at this time in the evening? ” wondered 
Mrs. Averill. “ How near it sounded.” 

“ Dolphus has returned from the fort and is fir¬ 
ing at some animal prowling round the building, I 
suppose,” said Mr. Averill. “ He has declared 
war on those troublesome cats, and perhaps he was 
exterminating one of them. They have increased 
to an alarming number, and I fear they will resem¬ 
ble the Pied Piper’s force if something isn’t done.” 

The wood-piles and out-buildings were infested 
by a horde of wild and hungry cats, supposed to 
be descendants of domestic cats and kittens, which 
had been relentlessly cast off as an encumbrance 
too great to be transported sixty miles when the 
agency had been removed. The white man had 
imposed this pest upon the mission. Indian cats 
there are none, as the red man has a superstitious 
prejudice against the feline race. 

“I think I must be nervous,” Mrs. Averill re- 


95 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


9 6 

marked, unable to resume her book; “it seems as 
if I smell smoke, or a most peculiar odor. Did 
you look about, as usual, before putting out the 
lights below ? ” 

Mr. Averill had not time to answer ere the door¬ 
knob rattled, turned all ways, then yielded, and 
the twin walked in. She was shaken from her 
wonted calmness, and was holding up her long 
white nightgown with a nervous hand. 

“ Amelia tell about the Bone Ghost, and the 
long girls and the meedle-size am very scare,” 
she tremblingly reported. “ And the wa-na-gi 
come and wheestle outdoors. And the girls burn 
the wah-kon and some school shoes and some 
moccasins. But the ghost will be wheestling all 
the time and would not go away. So Sarah get 
the gun to shoot it; and the gun go off in the 
dormitory, and I do not know if it keel some 
girl.” 

Mr. Averill suppressed a groan while starting 
from his chair, and Mrs. Averill seized the lamp 
and flew along the halls. She was met by Lilian, 
who had followed Alomina through the door which 
opened from the dormitory closet. Lilian looked 
extremely pale and terrified. 

“ I tried to light the lamp to see if any one is 
hurt, but the girls have used up all the matches. 
Oh, dear, dear, please come! ” she cried hysteri- 


FASTING. 


97 


cally, pursuing Mrs. Averill through the closet to 
the smoking dormitory, with the twin behind her. 

Lilian swept the scorching shoes and moccasins 
and the cedar from the stove into the coal-hod, 
flinging wide a window to let out the smoke, while 
Mrs. Averill looked about in dread. 

The gun was lying on the floor, but she saw no 
signs of any accident. The girls were all in bed, 
tightly buried in the bedclothes. 

“ Let every girl who is not hurt get out of bed 
and stand up,” she commanded sternly and dis¬ 
tinctly. “ I must be obeyed at once.” 

There was a prompt upheaval of the bedclothes, 
and all the girls alighted on their feet. Their 
dusky faces wore a blanched hue, and they looked 
about them in a scared, bewildered way. Mrs. 
Averill drew a breath of thankfulness that all were 
spared. 

“ That will do; you may go back to bed,” she 
said more gently. 

At that moment Jane, who had meandered into 
bed with Hester in the general commotion, cried : — 

“ Tokee ! the loo-oking glass ; the beeg ha-ole. 
She have shoot it in the meedle.” 

The shot had struck the mirror to the bureau, 
piercing it precisely through the center. 

Lilian flew to tell the welcome news to Mr. 
Averill, who was pacing up and down the hall, 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


98 

awaiting tidings from the scene of the disaster. 
She was still hysterical, and she seized him by 
the little finger, giving it a joyful squeeze. 

“O Mr. Averill, dear Mr. Averill! she hasn’t 
hurt a hair of their heads. It’s no one but the 
looking-glass ; she didn’t mean to shoot it. Please 
forgive her. Oh, dear, I’m so very too happy! ” 
and she laughed and cried together. 

Mr. Averill wiped the perspiration from his 
brow in unspeakable relief. 

“You are very much excited, Lilian,” he said. 
“You would better go into the sitting-room and 
calm yourself. You may tell me all about it 
presently.” 

He turned to speak with Mrs. Averill, and to 
take the gun from her. He placed it in a closet 
in his office, then he hastened to explore the 
grounds to see if anything which a deluded fancy 
could convert into an apparition wandered there. 
His search was unsuccessful. 

Lilian went into the sitting-room, and was sur¬ 
prised, on looking at the clock, to find it past her 
bedtime by an hour or more. 

“ I am more to blame than any of the girls, for 
I haven’t been to bed at all,” she said to Mr. 
Averill when he came to talk with her. 

“Were you listening to the ghost stories that 
Amelia told?” he asked. 


FASTING. 99 

“Yes,” she answered. “I was sitting on the 
bed with Katy and Louise.” 

“You were deeply interested, I suppose.” 

Lilian felt inclined to look down in embarrassed 
silence, but she braced herself, and met his look 
of kind surprise with penitential frankness. 

“ I was very too sorry for the bad boy in the 
Anung-ite’s ear, and I forgot where I was when 
the young Indian man was wrestling with the Bone 
Ghost — and his bones all came apart — on Sarah’s 
bed.” 

Mr. Averill compressed his lips, and did not 
smile. 

‘ ‘ And after you were thoroughly excited by the 
ghost tales, you were quite in sympathy with the 
girls when they imagined that there was a specter 
out of doors ? ” 

She stopped to ponder on the unaccountable 
object that had led the girls to such extreme meas¬ 
ures in the dormitory. 

“ Do you think you saw anything remarkable?” 
pursued he. 

“ Yes,” she was compelled to say. 

“ How did it appear? ” 

“Oh, truly awful. It was dressed in white, 
and was all bent over like an old, old person. 
And it had a very yellow skin and fiery eyes. It 
was grinning, and its grin was all on fire — like 


IOO 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


its eyes; and it was whistling — right while its 
fiery mouth was stretched wide open.” 

Mr. Averill half raised his eyebrows with 
increased surprise. 

“Where was this truly awful something?” he 
inquired. 

“This side of the storehouse, when I saw it. I 
peeped just once — I was too scared to peep again.” 

“I’ll step to the cottage, and see if Dolphus is 
in bed,” he said, upon reflecting for a moment. 
“ I have made him the scapegoat once in thinking 
he had fired the gun, but perhaps he caused the 
scare. He was to bring a sack of lime from the 
fort, and I directed him to take it to the storehouse. 
He may have had that on his back. He wears a 
light gray overcoat, and possibly some lime had 
sifted through the sack and powdered him a little. 
He would hardly have gone to the storehouse with¬ 
out a lantern. No doubt that shed a light across 
his face, and made the fiery countenance of your 
imagination. Dolphus is a merry whistler.” 

Lilian shook her head in puzzled contradiction. 
“ It couldn’t have been Dolphus with the lime- 
sack. And it wasn’t whistling merrily,— oh, no. 
It sounded kind of smothered and short-breathed. 
I’ve never in the world believed in ghosts,— and I 
don’t see how this could be a real ghost-walk,— 
but, oh, dear, I don’t know what to think ! ” 


FASTING. 


IOI 


“ Well, Lilian, it is time you were asleep,” said 
Mr. Averill very patiently. “ I trust that there 
will be no more disturbance in the dormitory, 
though a close watch will be kept by Mrs. Averill 
and Miss Hartford through the night.” 

They arose, and Lilian was about to leave the 
room, but she stopped to speak again. 

“ Mr. Averill,” she faltered, “ I should feel 
much better to be disciplined for disappointing you 
and Mrs. Averill so much. And then, if you 
would trust me just the same as ever, I would try 
so hard to do as you both wish. And, if again I 
disappointed you, would you remember, please, that 
always have I talked and played and worked with 
Indian girls, who do not understand so well as white 
girls, though they truly want to learn the right way. 
I do not know if I can ever learn the right way.” 

In her tense concern she dropped somewhat into 
the speech and accent of the Indian children, and 
there was a touching pathos in her voice. The 
superintendent did not gaze unmoved upon the 
wistful face of this unconscious little fair girl who 
had strayed into the wild Indian country and had 
been committed to his care. 

He had become her guardian fourteen months 
before, when he and Mrs. Averill had come to 
take charge of the mission work, from their camp 
school on another reservation. 


102 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


The retiring superintendent and his wife had 
taken up the arduous labor at the mission twelve 
years previously, in vigorous strength, with hair 
unstreaked with gray, and with unwrinkled faces. 
They were leaving it in broken health, with pre¬ 
maturely gray hair, with many careworn lines 
upon their faces, but their hearts were still un¬ 
wearied. 

“I know you will be tender with our little 
brown maids and our little fair girl Lilian,” Mr. 
Hildreth had assured the new young superintend¬ 
ent and his girlish wife, who held her beautiful 
boy baby in her arms. “ Lilian was a wee cling¬ 
ing lassie when she came to us, and we took turns 
rocking her to sleep, my wife and I; and many of 
our bright, confiding older girls have grown up in 
the school. We took them from the teepes and 
the huts as little wild, reluctant creatures, with a 
terror of the white man in their eyes.” * 

“We shall seek most earnestly to carry out 
your plans and methods and to keep in sympathy 
with our pupils,” Mr. Averill answered. 

“ May God bless you and preserve your 
strength,” said Mr. Hildreth fervently. 

And the new young superintendent and his gray¬ 
haired predecessor sealed the covenant with clasped 
hands. 

At the parting Lilian wept in Mrs. Hildreth’s 


FASTING. 


103 


arms, and the Indian girls cried softly in their 
aprons. Then the whole school stood about the 
stile and strained their eyes to catch a last glimpse 
of the “ kind white father and white mother” pass¬ 
ing down the range and out of sight. When they 
were lost to view behind a distant ridge, the older 
girls passed quietly into the music-room, and 
Lilian played the organ and they joined in singing 
Mr. Hildreth’s favorite hymn : — 

“ Blest be the tie that binds 

Our hearts in Christian love.” 

Mr. Averill’s tenor and his wife’s contralto 
buoyed the faltering young voices as the hymn 
went on: — 

“ When we asunder part 
It gives us inward pain, 

But we shall still be joined in heart 
And hope to meet again.” 

Thus the Averills had assumed the guidance of 
the Indian pupils of the mission, and the one fair 
little alien in their midst. 

“ I fully realize that you are in a difficult posi¬ 
tion, Lilian,” Mr. Averill now said, when he could 
trust himself to speak. “ I am seriously in doubt 
if we should leave the white rose with the sand- 
flowers any longer. Mrs. Averill and I are think¬ 
ing it might be arranged to send you away from 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


IO4 

the reservation to a white girls’ school. Would 
you like to go ? ” 

“Oh, I couldn’t leave the dear mission — not 
this year, at least,” said Lilian, looking startled. 
“Please don’t send me off so soon. I’ll be real 
good — indeed I will,” she promised, in the child¬ 
like way this gentle girl of fifteen sometimes had. 

“No doubt of that, my little girl,” he smiled. 
“We should be loth to part with you, but I fear 
it is not best to keep you.” 

“ I couldn’t go while I’m the keeper of the lock, 
you know,” she further urged. 

“You couldn’t take the troublesome relic with 
you and return it by express?” he queried rue¬ 
fully. 

“Oh, no; Aunt Losa wouldn’t trust it on the 
railroad. And there’s something else”—thinking 
of the hidden treasure to be searched for. “ Noth¬ 
ing that will give you trouble — you’ll be glad. 
I’ll tell you all about it, —you and Mrs. Averill, — 
though Clark thinks we’d better keep it rather 
secret. There comes Dolphus now. I hear his 
horse.” 

They looked from the window and saw the 
young mission farmer riding past with the sack of 
lime across his saddle. 

“ I was very sure he wasn’t it,” said Lilian, 
returning to the specter. 


FASTING. 


105 

She said good night and went to bed, leaving 
Mr. Averill to weigh her evidence of the extraor¬ 
dinary vision of the evening. 

The dormitory door was partly open, and Miss 
Hartford sat quite near it by a table in the hall, 
writing to her mother in the East. She smiled at 
Lilian and placed a cautious finger on her lips. 
A hush had settled on the dormitory for the night. 
Lilian slipped her shoes off in the hall and stole 
along the passage in her stockings, scarcely ven¬ 
turing to breathe. 

When Miss Hartford formed the school in line 
to march into the dining-room next noon, one 
pupil was conspicuously absent. 

“ Sarah Spider is in the think-room,” was the 
whispered information from the twin, who toed the 
mark between the play-room and the music-room, 
with Jane in front of her and Inez in the rear. 
“Meester Averill take her when she go upstairs 
to get her apron when she come from Sunday 
school.” t 

The twin had witnessed Sarah’s exit from the 
upper hall into the teachers’ part with Mr. Averill, 
and had pushed the door ajar to watch. 

The whisper spread, and in a moment all had 
notice that the eminent daughter of the Two 
Kettle chief was a prisoner in the large square 
closet off the front hall, where a girl of trouble- 


io 6 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


some proclivities was sometimes asked to sit and 
muse upon the error of her ways. The “ think- 
room ” had a pensive light admitted through a 
transom, calculated to encourage meditation. The 
key was never turned upon the thinker, who was 
placed upon her honor to remain in strict retire¬ 
ment until permitted to emerge. The honor of an 
Indian girl, although unique, is strong in most 
respects, and there was no case on record of a 
prisoner’s premature escape. 

The fasting and the strong excitement of the 
previous night had worn upon the large and middle- 
sized girls, and their faces had a pinched and 
wistful aspect as they viewed the tempting dinner 
spread upon the tables, prettily arranged with 
fruit and candy; but, according to the rigorous 
penance prescribed by Sarah, all turned down their 
plates. The large girls who presided at the tables 
waited on the small girls, after which they drank 
the cup of milk the fasters had allowed them¬ 
selves, then sat in listless attitude with downcast 
eyes. 

Lilian and Katy shared the honors of the table 
next the teachers’. Lilian filled her plate for 
Katy, passing it along the table through the small 
girls’ hands, imploring her by signs to eat, but 
Katy sadly shook her head and passed it back. 

“ Dear me, Herbert, they aren’t going to taste 


FASTING. 


107 


the dinner, when they’ve planned for it so eagerly 
in honor of your birthday,” Mrs. Averill said to 
Mr. Averill in distress. “ Is it possible that they 
can go without another meal?” 

Mr. Averill arose amid a breathless hush and 
said in a supremely quiet tone : — 

“ It does not please us to have the girls go hun¬ 
gry, and because they fast it does not prove that 
they are sorry they have disobeyed. If they are 
sorry, they can prove it in a better way by taking 
care to keep the rules hereafter, and to cheerfully 
do as they are asked by those who know what is 
best for them.” 

So saying, he resumed his seat. 

“ Tokee ! of course we wish to please them,” 
Nancy whispered down the table to Amelia, “ but 
how can we eat when we have held up the right 
side that we will not? ” 

“ An Indian does not break a fasting promise, 
and we cannot eat,” Amelia whispered back. 

In the absence of the chiefs daughter the fasters 
looked to the myth-teller as the controller of the 
penance. She did not turn up her plate, nor did 
the others, and the fast continued, though with 
much regret upon the part of all that they were so 
dishonoring Mr. Averill’s birthday, and perplexing 
those whom they really wished to please. 


CHAPTER IX. 


THE DOUGHNUT RAID. 

“ PEE how it shine,” said little Anna, holding 

O up a carving knife which she had scoured 
with ardor. “ Meeses Averill say we knife and 
fork girls do well thees moon. We shall change 
work yesterday — I mean to-morrow — and again 
I shall not scour thees knife.” 

“ Again I shall not grind the meat,” observed 
Jane, while she leaned her elbows on the meat 
mill to survey the carving knife with approbation. 
“ If I am a dormitory girl next moon, I shall like 
that very.” 

“ Again I shall not wash this pot,” said Katy, as 
she turned a huge black kettle upside down upon 
the table, giving it a farewell rub. “ So clean is 
it upon the tip-top of the bottom that you all shall 
see what I shall dare to do with it. Look, now, 
how Bertram takes a ride.” 

She placed the kettle on the floor, seized upon 
the yellow-haired school baby, trotting through the 
kitchen, set him on the kettle, and began to push 
it nimbly round the room. 

“ Dear me ! ” said Mrs. Averill, coming in and 

108 


THE DOUGHNUT RAID. 


IO9 

springing to the rescue of her baby. “ Bertram 
is all spick-and-span to call upon the ladies at the 
fort. His white frock will be soiled.” She 
snatched the baby from his perch and viewed the 
dainty, lace-trimmed frock with concern. 

It was as snowy white as ever, and the kitchen 
force clapped hands in chorus with a burst of glee¬ 
ful laughter. 

“ Ee ! She thinks I have smut on the wrong 
side of my soup pot,” Katy cried. “ I have 
washed it very lots of dinner-times this moon so-o 
har-rd, and scraped and scoured it very clean 
indeed.” 

“It is the cleanest kettle in the two Dakotas, I 
am very sure,” said Mrs. Averill, joining the girls 
in making merry at her needless start. 

The kitchen force that month had done its ut¬ 
most to surpass the record of all other forces in 
the history of the school. Hester’s forty loaves of 
bread each day were marvelously light and white. 
Inez’s pies and doughnuts were the wonder of the 
school. The private dishes girls had made the 
teachers’ glass and china shine with more than 
wonted brightness, and the general crockery girls 
had placed the pupils’ dishes on the shelves in 
spotless order day by day. 

“ The kitchen girls have done surprisingly good 
work this month — mostly under Lilian’s manage- 


no 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


ment,” said Mrs. Averill to the superintendent as 
he brought the wagon to the door in readiness for 
driving to the fort; ‘ 4 and the dining-room and 
dormitory girls have done about as well. I truly 
think there never were such neat and capable In¬ 
dian girls as ours. Tie the horses, Herbert, and 
go in and praise the bread which Hester has just 
taken from the oven. I will be putting on my hat 
and Bertram’s coat and cap.” 

The merry voices ceased their chatter as the 
superintendent stepped into the kitchen, and the 
girls stood motionless, regarding him with shy in¬ 
tentness. 

Hester had arranged the forty loaves upon the 
cooking table, and was about to spread the bread 
cloth over them when Mr. Averill stayed her hand. 

“ Mrs. Averill wishes me to see the bread,” he 
said. “My mother used to say that good, light 
bread, well baked, would be the color of an oak 
leaf when the frost has painted it a golden brown. 
That seems to be the way with this.” He viewed 
the plump, sweet-smelling loaves approvingly, 
while Hester’s dusky face grew timorously bright. 
“ I wish the President of the United States could 
drop down at the mission and enjoy a feast of 
Hester’s bread and see what Indian girls can do.” 
He cast his eyes about the kitchen to inspect the 
general good order. “ Don’t you wish so, girls?” 


THE DOUGHNUT RAID. 


Ill 


“ Yes, Mr. Averill,” replied the kitchen force in 
a demure chorus. They had been well drilled in 
responses. 

4 ‘ The school has done good work in every way 
this month. We think you mean to try as hard 
next month to do whatever may be given you with 
cheerful patience. Are we right in thinking so?” 

“Yes, Mr. Averill,” chimed the level voices a 
second time. 

Mrs. Averill now joined the superintendent, 
ready for the drive. 

“ Now very lots of fun we will have,” said Jane, 
as the wagon left the door. “No school there 
will be thees afternoon, for Mees Hartford’s head 
is seek with a pain in its back, and she have gone 
to bed.” 

“ But Mrs. Averill said we must all stay inside 
the grounds,” said Katy. “And the long girls 
and the middle-sized are to watch the short girls, 
so they will keep out of mischief; and Miss Peck 
will watch the long girls and the middle-sized.” 

“ Miss Peck is cutting out very lots of arms and 
naiks for the sewing class, so she cannot stop to 
watch us very sharp,” replied Jane; “and one 
side of Miss Peck cannot hear, so we can laugh 
and scream very loud downstairs, and all sing 
deeferent. If we have a hymn cat concert, I 
choose, — 


112 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“ ‘ Soon from care and labor free, 

Lord, I woo-uld commoon with thee.’ ” 

“ Oh, please don’t have a cat concert,” Lilian 
begged. “ It isn’t right to have fun with the 
sacred hymns, and you make such hideous noises.” 

Lilian had begun the grave concoction of a 
teachers’ cake, and was standing by a little table 
near the tall safe, creaming butter in a yellow 
bowl. She was daintily enveloped in a freshly 
ironed Mother Hubbard apron and a cooking cap 
of blue and white checked gingham. 

“ No,” said Katy, from her sink across the room, 
“Miss Delaney says a hymn cat concert is very 
unreligious and unmel-odious. We must keep 
still and fast finish our work. Miss Peck so loved 
the Indians that she came to be our sewing teacher, 
and very wrong it would be to make a too loud 
noise, because one side cannot hear a watch 
tick.” 

The combined advice of the fair little manager, 
who held the post of honor in the kitchen by 
pacific measures, and the tins and kettle girl ap¬ 
peared to have due weight, and for a time the 
work went on in quiet order. Then there came 
an unexpected crisis in the lives of these industri¬ 
ous young kitchen maids. 

“ Mr. Averill did not want the President of the 
United States to have a doughnut,” Inez mur- 


THE DOUGHNUT RAID. II3 

mured, as she closed the oven door upon the 
coffee she was browning with a jealous little 
slam. 44 He would feast the President on bread 
alone—bread—bread! How sick the President 
would get of bread ! Mr. Averill did not ask to 
see my doughnuts.” 

44 They were in the pantry,” Hester hastened to 
explain. 44 Much smarter have you worked than 
I, to get so many doughnuts fried before the dinner 
bell.” 

44 He thinks my doughnuts are not fit to eat,” 
pursued the injured little pastry cook. 44 He 
thinks they are so-o to-o-u-g-h, and are not sweet. 
He thinks they soak fat, and are very horrid.” 

44 Kee ! they could not soak fat and be tough,” 
discriminated Katy. 44 If they soaked fat they 
would be too tender.” 

44 But he is a man and does not know that. If 
you offered him a pony, not one doughnut would 
he eat.” 

“Because he do not like doughnuts,” Jane ob¬ 
served. 44 He say they are un-re-jest-able.” 

44 No one wants to eat my doughnuts,” still 
lamented Inez. 

44 1 do,” Katy strove to soothe her. 

44 They are always very nice. I wish I had one 
right now — if it is so soon since dinner.” 

44 You can take one if you will,” suggested 


ABOVE TIIE RANGE. 


IT 4 

Sarah, who was beating frosting for the teachers’ 
cake. 

“Tokee! she dare not — and you dare not,” 
Inez said in great surprise. “ No one ever 
touches doughnuts in between two meals.” 

“ I should dare to if I wanted to,” was Sarah’s 
stately answer. “There is nothing that a Two 
Kettle Indian dare not do, of course.” 

“ Ee ! she talks that way, when she was in the 
think-room not one week ago,” cried Inez, taking 
fire. “ I am a Spanish Indian and I am as brave 
as a Two Kettle. She shall see that I dare to 
dare her to take a doughnut! ” 

She flew into the pantry, bringing out the large, 
deep can which held the week’s supply of dough¬ 
nuts. She impetuously danced a chair into the 
middle of the room, set the can upon it, and drew 
herself erect with scintillating eyes. 

“ Now, then, if you dare ! Ho’ wo’! Ho’ wo’! 
E’ya-ha-he ! E’ya-ha-he ! ” She challenged the 
majestic princess, breaking into the forbidden 
Teton in her strong excitement. “ All of you can 
take as many doughnuts as you dare to,” was the 
general invitation which she rashly flung about the 
kitchen. 

Sarah cast her egg-beater recklessly down and 
plunged into the can. Jane followed, likewise 
the remainder of the kitchen force — large, and 


THE DOUGHNUT RAID. 


II5 

middle-sized, and small, save Katy and the bread 
girl. Katy sprung to the defense of Inez, slap¬ 
ping with her half-wrung dishcloth right and left. 
Hester hovered helplessly above her bread, as if 
she feared that also were in danger. Lilian stood 
in petrified amazement, unable to exert the least 
authority. 

Sarah seized three doughnuts, rushing out of 
doors and waving them aloft, the other raiders at 
her heels. 

“You can have doughnuts ! Any one can have 
as many doughnuts as they want,” she shrieked. 

The large and middle-sized girls not at work were 
gathered at the swing, a few rods from the kitchen 
door. They started for the house upon the run. 

Lilian now bethought herself and sprung to lock 
the outside door, hasping that which led into the 
laundry adjoining the kitchen. Thus the raid was 
checked a space, while Inez viewed, with feelings 
which defy description, her diminished store of 
doughnuts. 

All at once the cellar door burst open and back 
rushed the raiders, led by Sarah, with a most 
alarming reinforcement. They had entered through 
the outside door into the cellar. The doughnuts 
carried out of doors had been bestowed upon the 
younger children, and the raiders were now bent 
on capturing a new supply. 


n6 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


Inez seized the can and tried to take it back 
into the pantry, but the mob swooped down upon 
it and upset it on the floor. The doughnuts flew 
all ways, and the girls went down in an excited 
scramble after them. 

Suddenly the hall door opened and revealed the 
superintendent and the matron with a party from 
the fort. They had met outside the gate as Mr. 
Averill and his wife were driving from the grounds. 

The party was composed of Mrs. Major Lile, a 
tall, grave officer from Washington who had come 
North upon official business, and Lieutenant Fris- 
bie and his bride. The tall, grave officer was Mrs. 
Frisbie’s uncle. 

“This is our kitchen,” Mrs. Averill began — 
then she stopped in deep astonishment. 

The girls rebounded into order with their hands 
replete with doughnuts, which they hid behind 
them in a shame-faced way. 

“We wanted you to take the kitchen unawares 
and see us in our every-day estate,” said Mr. 
Averill, coming to his wife’s assistance. “Every¬ 
thing was running smoothly when we left, a little 
while ago, but you perceive there has been a sud¬ 
den revolution.” 

He gazed unmoved upon the remnant of the 
doughnuts scattered on the floor and trampled 
under foot. 


THE DOUGHNUT RAID. 117 

“We army people rather look for sudden revo¬ 
lutions up this way,” replied the senior officer, with 
a reassuring glance at Lilian, standing to one side 
with the cake dish pressed against her throbbing 
heart. It was plain to see that she had been a 
powerless opponent of the revolution. 

“Lilian, Mrs. Major Lile and you are good 
friends,” Mrs. Averill remarked, turning to the 
pleasant-looking lady of the post, who had often 
visited the school, and had petted Lilian quite 
enough to spoil her, had she been of different ma¬ 
terial. “ Mrs. Frisbie, this is Lilian Swift Bird, a 
pupil of the school, and our assistant industrial 
teacher, in the absence of the regular teacher, Miss 
Delaney. Colonel Mayo, Lilian, and Lieutenant 
Frisbie.” 

Lilian rallied and went through the introduction 
with surprising bravery, apologizing only with 
her eyes for the condition of affairs. Something 
in her face so took possession of the senior officer 
that he was moved to step across the space divid¬ 
ing them to shake hands. Lilian’s hand clung 
to his with sugary persistency, for she had plunged 
it unawares into the cake dish in her agitation at 
the turmoil in the kitchen. 

“ Dearie me, I didn’t know I’d had it in the 
teachers’ cake dough ! ” she exclaimed in bright 
confusion as she pulled it from his grasp. 


Il8 ABOVE THE RANGE. 

“ Never mind, my little girl,” said Colonel 
Mayo, with a pleasant smile beneath his iron gray 
mustache. “ It’s the sweetest handshake I have 
had for many a day.” 

“ Now you’ll have to wash,” she ruefully 
observed, much to the amusement of the military 
four. The young bride sparkled with enjoyment 
of the novel situation, and could scarcely keep 
from kissing the delightful little nonplussed man¬ 
ager in the Mother Hubbard apron and the cooking 
cap. “ I’ll pour some hot soft water in my basin 
— it is granite iron, but I scour it carefully every 
day — and you can wash your hands in that, and 
dry them on my cooking towel. It is span clean.” 

“ Perhaps, dear, we had better take the colonel 
to the spare room,” suggested Mrs. Averill. 

“Oh, no,” interposed the colonel; “the little 
industrial teacher has arranged it just right. I see 
she is used to managing.” 

Lilian poured the water with her clean left hand, 
and he washed his sticky right hand in the basin. 
Then she washed her own hands while the colonel 
dried his own on the towel. He observed with his 
discriminating eye that Lilian’s hands were white 
and shapely and well cared for. He scanned her 
face more closely as her eyes were bent upon the 
basin, then he turned away in silence, giving Mr. 
Averill a glance of questioning surprise. 


THE DOUGHNUT RAID. II9 

44 Girls,” said Mrs. Averill to the Indian pupils, 
standing like a group of statuary, with a down¬ 
cast gaze, “will you say good afternoon to Mrs. 
Major Lile?” 

44 Good afternoon, Mrs. Major Lile,” they in¬ 
tonated in a dreamy monotone, addressing with 
their eyes the scattered doughnuts and the upset 
can. 

44 Mrs. Lieutenant Frisbie.” 

44 Good afternoon, Mrs. Lieutenant Frisbie.” 

Jane came out a word behind, delivering herself 
of 44 Freeze-bee,” in a groping drawl. 

44 Colonel Mayo.” 

44 Good afternoon, Colonel Mayo.” 

The dreamy voices melted to the softest murmur 
in saluting the distinguished-looking officer, who 
had been inspected by the downcast eyes from top 
to toe, by some mysterious sleight of vision. 

44 Lieutenant Frisbie, girls.” 

The young lieutenant well-nigh stilled the voices 
talking in their sleep. 

44 Good afternoon, Lieutenant Frisbie,” was re¬ 
cited in a vanishing whisper. 

When the introduction drill pertaining to the 
civilizing process was completed, Mr. Averill 
addressed the pupils in a pleasant tone : — 

“As the doughnuts in your hands appear to 
have been on the floor, it is not best for you to eat 


120 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


them, girls. You may put them in the pigs’ pail 
after we have passed out. Inez will attend to 
clearing up the rest.” 

He spared the girls the punishment of filing to 
the pigs’ pail in the presence of the guests and 
depositing their plunder. 

The party left the kitchen, and as Mr. Averill 
closed the door behind him, every eye was lifted 
from the floor to watch the door knob till it ceased 
to turn. Then the wary little Teton maids be¬ 
stirred themselves with sudden animation. 

“ Now, then, Miss Two Kettle, are you not very 
too ’shamed indeed?” cried Inez, as she seized the 
broom to sweep the wreckage of the doughnuts in 
a pile. “For a week the school will have no 
doughnuts, and the soldier officers and ladies will 
go off and say what pigs and wild Indians are 
being educated in this mission school.” 

“I am very ’shamed, of course, but I am not 
very too shamed indeed, for a Two Kettle Indian 
is too brave to take a dare. A Two Kettle may be 
ashamed, but not afraid to take a dare,” descanted 
Sarah on the ethics of her tribe. 

The girls obeyed the superintendent, one and 
all, and the large pigs’ pail overflowed with dough¬ 
nuts. To complete the havoc, Inez covered them 
with water, leaving them in soak. 

Meanwhile, Lilian poured her cake into the pan 


THE DOUGHNUT RAID. 


121 


with hands made tremulous by some indefinite 
emotion which had seized her since the coming of 
the guests. She longed to drop her work and 
hover in the footsteps of the party passing through 
the building to observe the skill of the industrious 
young Indian girls in every branch of housework. 
Oh, to feast her eyes on every look and movement 
of the young bride she had dreamed of meeting in 
a different manner than amid the riot in the kitchen, 
and to watch the noble senior officer until she saw 
another winning smile dispel the sadness of his 
face ! 

“ Lilian does not speak one word,” Katy said to 
Hester, as the latter helped her bear her pan of 
dish-water to the drain outside the fence. Each 
grasped a handle of the pan, and they were swing¬ 
ing it between them, in an absent-minded way, 
slopping copious douses in the path. “ Her cheeks 
are very bright red, and her eyes mean different 
thoughts from ours. Do you not think that Lilian 
is as beautiful as Mrs. Frisbie?” 

“I cannot quite'tell,” Hester answered. “ I was 
much too scared to look at Mrs. Frisbie very sharp. 
I was looking at the tall soldier officer, this way,” 
peeping sidewise, “ that got daubed with teachers’ 
cake dough, and washed his hands in Lilian’s 
basin. He is very nice, but I was much afraid of 
him.” 


122 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“ Mrs. Frisbie’s eyes are very blue, and her hair 
is very yellow. Lilian’s are a different kind; but 
they smile alike, and they have alike dimples in 
one side,” mused Katy; “and they hold their 
heads so straight and brave, just like each other. 
Ee, I wish that I could hold my head that way and 
never be afraid. Tokee ! there is no dish-water 
left to pour into the drain. We have spilt it all, 
and that was not the way. Slops inside the fence 
will make us have the fever.” 


CHAPTER X. 


THE YOUNG MILITARY LADY. 

HE little miss with whom I shook hands in 



the kitchen seems entirely unlike your 


other pupils,” Colonel Mayo said to Mr. Averill, as 
the party halted in the front hall to inspect the 
Indian curios hanging on the wall. “ Surely she 
is not an Indian girl.” 

“ Most evidently not,” said Mr. Averill. “ She 
was adopted by a full Indian and his wife when 
very young. It isn’t known in what way they 
obtained her, but as the Sioux were then upon the 
war-path, it is supposed by some that she was 
captured from some traveler’s wagon or a ranch¬ 
man’s home. It is thought the Indians may have 
killed the parents, thus preventing any effort to 
recover her. I have been told that Swift Bird was 
a peaceable Indian, and probably he had no part 
in capturing the child,— if such was the case,— but 
purchased her from one of the aggressors. He 
had lost his little girl about the age of Lilian, and 
he deeply mourned her death.” 

Colonel Mayo turned aside and made no answer 
for a time. He seemed to be examining a gaily 


123 


124 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


colored war bonnet said to have been worn by 
Crazy Horse, well known to fame. 

Mrs. Frisbie left the beaded tunic she was view¬ 
ing with much interest, and slipped her hand 
about her uncle’s arm, clinging closely to his 
side. 

“ I was pursuing Indians farther west about that 
time,” he presently responded, as he stroked his 
niece’s slender fingers. “Sitting Bull required 
close attention. Are the foster parents of this little 
white girl living?” 

“ No,” said Mr. Averill. “ Swift Bird died 
about three years ago, and his wife soon followed 
him.” 

As the party passed into the parlor, Mrs. Frisbie 
spoke to Mrs. Averill, received a smiling answer, 
and slipped away. 

The work was finished in the kitchen, save the 
baking of the teachers’ cake, and Lilian was left 
alone. She was peeping in the oven to inspect the 
rising process, when she heard a flutter of soft 
garments and looked up, to see the young bride 
standing over her. She gave a rapturous little 
gasp and started up. 

“ Oh — oh— have you come back? I thought 
I shouldn’t see you any more ! ” And quite ob¬ 
livious that she had formed an intimate acquaint¬ 
ance with the young military lady only in her 



COLONEL MAYO EXAMINED A GAILY COLORED WAR BONNET, 













THE YOUNG MILITARY LADY. 1 25 

day dreams, Lilian seized her hands and squeezed 
them tightly, bursting into tears. 

“ Why, you poor, sweet little industrial teacher,” 
pitied Mrs. Frisbie, drawing Lilian close to her; 
“ are the naughty brown maids worrying you dis¬ 
tracted? Come and sit here on the table and 
we’ll talk it over, just as if we’d been acquainted 
all our lives.” 

They perched themselves upon the teachers’ 
cooking table, scoured as white as ivory, and 
Lilian checked her tears and murmured confiden¬ 
tially : — 

“It isn’t that the girls are worrying me dis¬ 
tracted— though the doughnut trouble was too 
awful — they are lovely, nearly always — but I’ve 
never had a white girl for a friend, and I heard 
that you were only eighteen, and before Lieuten¬ 
ant Frisbie went East to be married, he told the 
ladies at the fort, and they told Mrs. Averill, and 
she told me that you were very sweet and beauti¬ 
ful,”— the bride laughed merrily at the good report 
of her started by Lieutenant Frisbie,— “ and I’ve 
been expecting you and thinking of you almost 
every minute in the day. I was afraid you’d have 
so many happy things to think of that I’d never 
have a chance to talk with you — but I wished and 
wished I might — and when I saw you there I 
knew my wish had come true, and I had to cry.” 


126 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“You precious child !” exclaimed the sympa¬ 
thetic bride. “ So you have been worrying over 
me, and not the naughty brown maids. I have 
heard about you and the interesting Indian girls, 
and I couldn’t wait for Mrs. Averill to visit me, so 
I came right over — for I knew we needn’t be the 
least bit formal out here on the plains. You and 
I will be the best of friends. I didn’t have a 
chance to talk with you before, you were so busy 
helping Uncle Leverett out of his dilemma with 
the teachers’ cake dough.” 

Here there was another merry laugh. 

“Uncle Leverett hadn’t heard about you, and 
you were a great surprise to him.” 

“ Wasn’t that dough too dreadful? ” and the little 
manager struggled with her feelings. “ But he 
was so nice and didn’t look one bit displeased. 
I’m glad that Colonel Mayo is your uncle. Did he 
come with you ? ” 

“Yes, but he is soon to leave. He will take 
the steamer up the river in the morning, and will 
return to Washington before the river closes.” 

“ Dearie me, how you will miss him ! He is 
fond of you, I know.” 

“ Yes,— the dear man,— and I think the world 
of him,” went on the bride, drawn to closer con¬ 
fidence by Lilian’s wistful interest. “ He is 
mamma’s only brother. We have lived with him, 


THE YOUNG MILITARY LADY. 127 

mamma and myself, since papa died, twelve years 
ago, except when we’ve been traveling abroad. 
Uncle Leverett was a captain up*here in the North¬ 
west during the Indian wars, but afterward he was 
assigned to duty in the East. He lost his wife 
and little daughter years ago,—but that is quite 
too sad to talk about. I smell your cake, my 
dear. Do you think it can be burning?” 

“ Oh, I hope not,” jumping from the table. “ I 
left the door ajar because the oven was too hot.” 

Mrs. Frisbie took a peep with Lilian, and beheld 
a culinary triumph risen to a glorious height. 

“ It takes my breath away,” she said. “What 
makes it look so golden? ” 

“ It is sunshine cake — all yolks. Sarah used 
the whites for frosting. I shall spread it on the 
cake when it is cool.” 

“ However did you learn so much?” inquired 
the inexperienced bride, as they returned to the 
table. “ You must teach me how to make a sun¬ 
shine cake. I mean to borrow you as often as I 
can, and keep you for a good long visit every 
time. We’ll have great times together in the 
kitchen —if cook will let us.” 

“ Oh, how lovely! ” Lilian said, in ecstasy. 

“ I wouldn’t miss keeping house for the world,” 
— with a matronly expression. “ I brought a cdok 
from Washington.” 


128 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“ I hope she won’t get married to a soldier right 
away,” said Lilian, with an air of grave concern. 
“ That’s the way they all do at the fort.” 

“Oh! Lieutenant Frisbie didn’t tell me,” in 
alarm. “ I dare not think of it. But cook is 
neither young nor handsome, so I’ll try to hope. 
May I hear about the doughnut trouble? Wasn’t 
it too funny ? ” and a merry thought dispelled the 
bride’s alarm. 

“ Oh, dear, it came so suddenly — just like a 
sand-storm,” Lilian sighed. “ The girls were all 
so good and fast at work. They didn’t dream of 
such a thing,” and she explained the raid. 

“That was a sudden overturn,” observed the 
laughing bride. “ Where is the jealous little 
doughnut girl? Can’t we comfort her some 
way ? ” 

“ She is hiding in the china closet, off the din¬ 
ing-room. She says she never will come out 
unless they drag her. There is nothing left but 
teachers’ doughnuts ; Inez made them, and they are 
delicious.” 

“ Oh, I wonder if we couldn’t have one. Uncle 
Leverett and I are fond of doughnuts, and of 
course Lieutenant Frisbie is. Mrs. Lile must like 
them, too. I’ll ask Mrs. Averill.” 

The tender-hearted young military lady, bent 
upon consoling the afflicted doughnut girl at the 


THE YOUNG MILITARY LADY. 1 29 

expense of all conventionality, now flitted from 
the kitchen. 

As the teachers’ cake was being taken from the 
oven, she returned. 

“ Mrs. Averill says we may have a doughnut. 
You and I will take them in when I have talked 
with Inez.” 

“ Oh, she wouldn’t talk with you,” said Lilian; 
“she would be too frightened. Indian girls don’t 
talk to any one unless they’re well acquainted. 
And it takes a long, long time for them to get ac¬ 
quainted.” 

“Don’t they ever talk to strangers?” Mrs. 
Frisbie asked. 

“Never in the world, except to say ‘Yes, 
ma’am,’ and ‘ No, ma’am,’ or ‘ Yes, sir,’ and ‘ No, 
sir,’ very low indeed, unless they answer all to¬ 
gether. And they’re dreadfully afraid of white 
men. They never talk to Mr. Averill — only Katy, 
who has been to Hampton, and is braver than the 
rest. But they talk to Mrs. Averill, and all the 
teachers, just as fast as can be. The small girls 
aren’t a bit shy, it’s only the large and middle-sized.” 

“What original young maids! They must be 
charming when they’re not afraid of one. I mean 
to try my best to get acquainted with them all, and 
I shall call upon the doughnut girl at once.” 

Lilian led the way to Inez’s hiding-place and 


130 ABOVE THE RANGE. 

then withdrew, leaving the young military lady to 
the interesting task of seeking an acquaintance on 
short notice with an Indian school-girl. 

Mrs. Frisbie found the closet door ajar, but 
heard no sound. She tapped upon the door, in¬ 
quiring : — 

“ Little doughnut girl, may I come in? ” 

She was answered by a breathless silence. 

“ She doesn’t say I may,” talked Mrs. Frisbie 
to herself, in softly audible tones; “but she 
doesn’t say I mustn’t. We were introduced, and 
she said ‘ Good afternoon, Mrs. Frisbie,’ so it isn’t 
impolite to talk to her. I’m sure she will excuse 
me if I step inside.” 

She carefully invaded the retired nook. The 
doughnut girl was standing in a corner, with her 
face securely hidden in her hands. 

“ She turns her back and doesn’t look at me, 
but I shall tell her right off what I wish,” pursued 
the bride, still talking to herself while looking 
over Inez’s shoulder. “ Mrs. Averill says that 
Mrs. Major Lile, Colonel Mayo, Lieutenant Fris¬ 
bie, and myself may have a teachers’ doughnut, 
and I’ve come to ask if you are willing, as you 
made them all by yourself.” 

There was a long pause while the seeker waited 
hopefully. Then came a faint, astonished whisper 
from behind the slim, brown hands : — 


THE YOUNG MILITARY LADY. 131 

“ Tokee ! ” 

“ Oh, she says ‘ Tokee ! ’ and that means some¬ 
thing nice in Indian, of course. I wish I under¬ 
stood Dakota — but HI have to guess. Does it 
mean ‘ I’m very willing ? ’ ” 

Another pause, but shorter, then a longer whis¬ 
per. 

“ Ee ! it does not mean that,” with increased 
astonishment. 

The fingers parted, and a pair of large, bright, 
dusky eyes looked out at Mrs. Frisbie in a cau¬ 
tiously inquiring way. 

“ Oh ! ” rejoined the seeker in a disappointed 
tone. “ Perhaps it means ‘ I am not willing,’ and 
in that case Mrs. Major Lile, Colonel Mayo, Lieu¬ 
tenant Frisbie, and myself should go without a 
doughnut.” 

Inez’s hands now parted company, and moved 
to one side, sheltering her small ears, and reveal¬ 
ing to the bride the Spanish-Indian face of strik¬ 
ing beauty she had noticed in the group of statuary. 

“ There are only two eggs to a pint of milk — 
you would not want to eat them — but it does not 
mean I am not willing,” murmured Inez, growing 
interested in the bride’s endeavor to interpret the 
peculiar exclamation, and forgetting to be wholly 
shy. 

“ Well, I’ll guess once more.” The fair brows 


i3 2 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


knit themselves in puzzled thought. “ Tokee must 
mean, — ‘ How strangely you do talk — I am sur¬ 
prised at you/ ” 

“ Ee ! now you understand it.” 

Then the black eyes met the blue eyes with a 
roguish gleam, and the young “ soldier lady” and 
the Indian girl were well acquainted. 

Lilian was in a maze of gladness when they 
walked into the kitchen hand in hand. She had 
taken off her apron and her cooking cap, emerg¬ 
ing in a trim condition in her linsey-woolsey frock. 

Inez filled a plate with doughnuts, placing it 
upon a tray, while Lilian brought out plates and 
napkins. Then the little pastry cook, no longer 
jealous, stole away to muse upon the wondrous 
happening that the soldier officers and ladies cared 
to eat her doughnuts. 

Later in the afternoon Clark alighted at the stile, 
where Lilian sat alone. 

“You’re just the one I want to see next, for I 
have no end of news to tell you,” she exclaimed, 
making room for him upon the stile. “You are 
quite a stranger. What has kept you away since 
a week ago Saturday? ” 

“Business — till I couldn’t rest. We’ve been 
cleaning house, and trying to get rid of moths. 
They’re thicker than the frogs in Egypt in the 
storerooms, and I can’t sleep nights I’m so dis- 


THE YOUNG MILITARY LADY. 1 33 

tressed.” Clark heaved an overworked house¬ 
keeper’s sigh, and leaned his cheek upon his hand 
in feminine dejection. “I’m afraid they’ll riddle 
all the government shoe leather, and a long 
Dakota winter stares the helpless Indian fellows 
in the face.” 

“Moths don’t care for shoes,” laughed Lilian, 
“ but they’ll eat the woolen socks. Are you all 
through house-cleaning?” 

“ No; we haven’t hung Lincoln and his cabinet 
in the schoolroom, and I saw a spider’s web behind 
the wardrobe in the large boys’ dormitory. It was 
Baptiste’s work to sweep it down, but he shirked 
it. Indians fight shy of spiders, fearing, if they kill 
one, a relative of the murdered insect will avenge 
its death.” 

“ Not if they repeat the formula, or prayer,” 
said Lilian. “They believe that when they need 
to kill a spider they must say, ‘ Iktomi Tunkansila, 
Wakinyanniktepelo,— O Grandfather Spider, the 
Thunder-beings kill you.’ They say his spirit 
believes what has been told him, and it tells the 
other spiders, and they think it’s no use to try to 
harm the Thunder-beings. The girls repeat the 
formula to keep from being bitten by the relatives.” 

“ That’s practising deception in a mission school 
and imposing on the spiders,” Clark declared. 
“ Mr. Averill ought to look into the matter.” 


!34 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“We’ll begin our house-cleaning next week. 
We want to be in perfect order when the missionary 
comes. Miss Delaney says he’s neater than a 
bandbox, and I think he must be, though I’ve never 
seen a bandbox; they don’t bring them to the 
Indian country. He enjoys the nice clean cup¬ 
boards, and he looked into the churn last time and 
praised the butter that had just come. He admired 
the girls’ work-baskets that were in good order, and 
he seemed so interested in the feather-stitching on 
the yokes and collars of the new dresses that the 
sewing class were doing. Nancy’s feather-stitches 
were all crooked and too long or too short, and he 
must have noticed them, but he looked another way 
and was too kind to seem surprised.” 

“It’s natural he should want to see the girls 
trimmed up in proper shape, he is such a spruce¬ 
looking chap himself,” said Clark irreverently. 
“ What’s all the news in this dull country ? ” 

“ Oh, I don’t know where to start; I’m all mixed 
up in thought. But I’ll begin with what has hap¬ 
pened just now. The bride was here this afternoon, 
and she likes me. Only think of that! ” 

“ She likes you ? Is it possible ? ” in mock sur¬ 
prise. “ Who is the bride ? What sort, red or 
white? Where from? Which way? Oh, dear, I 
can’t ask questions fast enough ! ” 

He held his breath with girlish interest. 


THE YOUNG MILITARY LADY. 135 

“ Oh, please be serious, Clark, or I shall never 
get it straightened out,” implored Lilian in a whirl. 

“ I want to laugh and cry together, I’m so glad 
and sorry, and that’s very nervous. Now I will 
begin again. The bride is from Washington. She 
lives at the fort. She is Mrs. Lieutenant Frisbie ; 
only eighteen, and so beautiful. She came right 
while the girls were fighting for the doughnuts, and 
I was expected to keep order in the kitchen, and 
that makes me so distressed. Mrs. Averill hasn’t 
said one word, nor Mr. Averill, and I don’t know 
what they think. 

“The large and middle-sized girls are in the 
schoolroom signing a petition, which the twin will 
take to Mr. Averill’s office, asking him and Mrs. 
Averill to excuse them. They have had petitions« 
in their letter-writing lessons, and they thought it 
would be nice to send one. Sarah and Inez were 
the bitterest enemies about the doughnuts, but they’d 
made it all up and were in the same seat writing 
the petition when I left the schoolroom. 

“ Oh, I haven’t got to Colonel Mayo, the bride’s 
uncle. Well, I went to carry in the teachers’ 
doughnuts — the bride asked for them because Inez 
was so jealous, and that made Inez so glad that she 
made up with Sarah. I can’t stop to tell you all 
about that, and Colonel Mayo had me sit right by 
him on the lounge, and he talked to me and I an- 


136 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


swered, though I kept real quiet, for I am a school¬ 
girl and they weren’t my company. He was very 
too nice and splendid, but he is going up the river 
in the morning, and I don’t suppose I’ll ever see him 
any more. I don’t know why that makes me so 
sad, for he is just a stranger. I shall see Mrs. 
Frisbie, though, for she is going to borrow me as 
often as she can, and I’m to teach her how to make 
a sunshine cake, and that makes me very glad.” 

Clark sat in listening silence during Lilian’s 
rambling attempt to make a long story short, and 
rubbed his forehead in a dazed way when she 
stopped, to find out where she was. 

“ I don’t pretend to grasp it all, especially about 
the doughnut scuffle, but the full particulars may 
leak out later,” he responded. “ Is that all the 
news,—the bride, and Colonel Mayo, and the 
doughnuts ? ” 

“No, indeed. I have been hunting for the 
treasure every time I could slip away, but I haven’t 
found it, and Aunt Losa hasn’t brought the chart. 
Uncle Seth has brought your trunk, of course, — 
for you’ve changed your cowboy clothes.” 

“Yes; he came washing day, and had a talk 
with Mr. Greely while I hung out sheets and 
pillow-cases. Aunt Losa will be here, for she 
always keeps a promise. Uncle Seth and she 
don’t travel much together. She’ll be likely to 


THE YOUNG MILITARY LADY. I37 

come over with some Indian neighbors. Did the 
girls hold out to fast?” 

“Every one, — the whole three meals. But 
they had the birthday dinner — what was left of 
it — at night; the twin ate three pieces of the 
fasters’ pie and such a lot of their candy at dinner. 
They were all good, and ate their supper, — even 
Sarah, who was in the closet all the afternoon for 
firing the gun. O Clark, there’s something else 
so very strange I don’t know what to think of it. 
There was a ghost-walk scare the first night I had 
the lock.” 

She looked him very soberly in the face. 

“We heard so over on our hill. That’s what 
I’m trying to get at,” he answered, with a look of 
like sobriety. “ Some animal prowling round out¬ 
side, wasn’t it? ” 

“ No ; very different from any animal that ever 
lived. You can’t imagine anything so hideous.” 

“ Ah ! you saw it, then? What sort of looking 
creature was it ? ” 

“Oh, I can’t begin to tell you. It was dressed 
in white, and had a fiery head, and its skin was 
yellower than an orange. It grinned and showed 
the brightest yellow teeth, and whistled in a fright¬ 
ful way.” 

“Tower of Babel! what a spectacle!” He 
turned his face away as if to dwell in solitary 


138 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


thought upon the strange affair. “What does 
Mr. Averill think?” 

“ He thinks we must have been excited — 
Amelia had been telling ghost stories — and 
imagined it, but we didn’t. Please to look this 
way, Clark,” she insisted gravely. “ It is impolite 
to turn your back and laugh when I am talking.” 

“ Oh, excuse me, little madam,” and he squared 
about and doffed his hat, dispelling his amusement. 
“What do you imagine the specter may have 
been? ” 

“ I shan’t try to explain. The girls are sure it 
was the ghost-lock from my trunk, but of course 
it wasn’t. Mrs. Averill and the teachers have to 
keep watch every night, the whole school is so 
nervous. They are all right in the daytime, but 
they hardly speak above a whisper after dark.” 

“You say that Sarah fired a gun. I heard the 
report, or rumor, several days ago.” 

“ ’Twas Mr. Averill’s gun. She meant to fire 
at the ghost, but it went off in the dormitory by 
mistake and struck the looking-glass right in the 
middle.” 

“Whew! she hit the bull’s eye, sure enough.” 
He risked another laugh. “The adventurous 
ghost was lucky to escape the bullet.” 

“ Don’t laugh,” said Lilian, still more seriously. 
“ It sounds as if you didn’t care one bit, and Mrs* 


THE YOUNG MILITARY LADY. 1 39 

Averill says it is a miracle that some one wasn’t 
killed or badly hurt.” 

“Hoity-toity! if she isn’t cross!” exclaimed 
Clark, dropping from the stile in vexed surprise. 
“ I must behave myself, for now that she’s associ¬ 
ating with the bride from Washington, she’s grow¬ 
ing mighty critical.” 

“ Now you’re very aggravating. I should 
think you would be glad for me to have a lovely 
white girl for a friend. It is unkind and cow- 
boyish to say I’m growing mighty critical.” 
She gave her oval chin a stately little tilt. 

“Well, then, I’ll say you’re growing quite dis¬ 
dainful, like the great majority of white girls. 
So good afternoon, Miss Lilian.” 

He raised his hat at arm’s length with elaborate 
courtesy, and sprang upon his pony. 

“ Dearie me, I do believe we’ve quarreled,” 
Lilian murmured to herself, when left alone. 
“ How fast he rides — just like the wildest cow¬ 
boy on the range. I wonder if the great majority 
of white girls are disdainful. As I’ve never 
known a single white girl, how am I to tell? 
Clark went to school with them till he was thirteen, 
so he ought to know. Poor Clark, I can’t think 
what does ail him. I shall ask Mrs. Frisbie if the 
great majority of white girls are disdainful.” 


CHAPTER XI. 


RESOLUTIONS. 


D EAR Mr. Averill and Mrs. Averill: — 

Whereas we, the undersigned, are afraid 
to talk to Mr. Averill, for he is a white man, and 
we are Indian girls, therefore resolved that we 
shall send a petition, and Inez and Sarah will be 
writing it, for they are the most to blame about 
the doughnuts. 

“ And whereas the school will have no doughnuts 
for one week, for they are in the pigs’ pail, and 
Dolphus will be feeding them to the pigs this night, 
therefore resolved that we will very cheerfully eat 
fried mush in place of doughnuts, and resolved 
that we will not waste the syrup. 

“And whereas we are very too shamed indeed 
that the soldier people saw us fighting for the 
doughnuts, resolved that we wish we had not done 
it. 


“And whereas if Mr. Averill and Mrs. Averill 
will excuse us, Inez says again she will never dare 
Sarah to take as many doughnuts as she wants, 
and Sarah says again she will never tell Inez that 


140 


RESOLUTIONS. I4I 

she shall not take a dare to take as many dough¬ 
nuts as she wants. 

“ Though whereas Sarah is a Two Kettle Indian, 
she will not like to be afraid to take a dare, and 
whereas Inez is a Spanish Indian, she will not like 
to be afraid to give a dare. 

“ Resolved that we shall send this by the twin, 
though she says she will not take it unless Inez 
gives her the red beads she is wearing round her 
neck. And whereas the twin will break the string 
and lose the beads. And unless Sarah gives her 
the ring that cost ten cents, with a green set. And 
whereas it is very too big for the twin’s finger, 
and she will lose that, too. 

“ Resolved that Katy shall sign this petition, for 
she slapped the girls’ heads with her dishcloth, so 
whereas she will have to get a new one. But 
resolved that Hester shall not sign it, for she did 
not do a wrong thing, only push off one loaf of 
bread into the scrub-pail, for she was so scared to 
watch the fight. 

“ Whereas the scrub-pail was full of scrub-water, 
for Sarah had been cleaning up the gravy that 
Jane spilt, and broke the gravy dish, for it is 
Sarah’s work to scrub the kitchen floor this moon, 
resolved that Jane was very too careless, and she 
is sorry. And resolved that Sarah .should have 
emptied out the scrub-water, and she left it right 


142 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


under one corner of the bread. So please excuse 
Hester, for the loaf that fell into the scrub-water 
is in the pigs’ pail with the doughnuts. 

“ Good-by, kind friends. Please excuse us all, 
and we will try hard. But we are Indians, and 
we are different. 

“ P. S. Inez writes ten words, and Sarah 
writes ten words, so the petition is not alike. 

“ Inez writes the best.” (Sarah.) 

“ Kee! Sarah writes the best.” (Inez.) 

“ P. P. S. We will be waiting in the school- 
house, and please send yes or no by the twin if 
you shall excuse us.” 

The large and middle-sized girls had signed the 
above curious document with many careful flour¬ 
ishes. The twin had brought it to the superintend¬ 
ent and the matron while they were consulting in 
the office, after the departure of their visitors. 
When they had read it, Mr. Averill dismissed the 
twin, with a message to the girls that he would 
presently address them in the schoolroom. 

“ Well, what follows? ” Mrs. Averill inquired, 
when Alomina had dissolved from view. 

“The common sequel — we shall be delighted 
to excuse them, since they seem to realize their 
error so profoundly,” he responded, with a patient 
smile. 

“ But, Herbert, it was such a serious affair — 


RESOLUTIONS. 


H3 


especially as our visitors from the fort witnessed it. 
Don’t you think the rioters should be disciplined in 
some way, to impress them with a sense of our 
authority ? ” 

“Possibly; but how?” he queried musingly. 
“We have made a number of experiments within 
five years concerning the judicious way of dealing 
with these rarest children in the universe. I re¬ 
spect your inventive faculty. Perhaps you can 
suggest a new plan, Margaret.” 

She gave herself to serious thought. 

“We can’t send them all to bed in the daytime, 
as they are needed elsewhere; nor can we con¬ 
sistently deprive them of a meal, after our late 
attempt to break the fast. And we couldn’t put 
them all in the ‘ think-room,’ unless they were im¬ 
prisoned one by one as we could spare them from 
their duties. It would take about three weeks to 
expiate the sentence that way, and, aside from all 
our worty, it would be a little bit ridiculous. 

“ And Sarah’s recent term of retrospection in 
the closet doesn’t seem to have accomplished all 
we hoped for,” Mr. Averill interjected. 

“ Sarah seems to be the leader. She might be 
expelled, but she would serenely return to the 
blanket, or the shawl, and come back on camping 
visits to consume the school with envy of her release 
from civilized restraint; and that is just what we 


T 44 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


are trying to avoid. She is bright and promising 
— in certain ways — if we can hold out to hold on to 
her.” She stopped to utter a despairing little sigh. 

“ Go on, my dear. You must not falter,” was 
his gentle spur. 

“We might have them learn a new psalm— or 
a chapter in Isaiah,” she doubtfully proposed. 

“ They are pretty well versed in scripture, con¬ 
sidering the crude state of their mental powers. 
As the matter now stands, the Bible is their 
favorite book, and I should hardly like to use it as 
a means of discipline, lest we force upon them a 
distaste for the sacred word.” 

“They need practise in buttonholes. I might 
ask Miss Peck to cut three dozen in a strip of 
cotton cloth, for each one, and they could work 
them during play hours.” 

“ Miss Peck and they are taxed enough by the 
regular sewing hours, I think you will admit, and 
they need the outdoor exercise. What are we, that 
we should pen these children of the sun and air 
between four walls, when they are pining for their 
freedom, simply to enforce a theory that punish¬ 
ment should follow every violation of good order, 
as relates to Indian children?” 

“Then,” said Mrs. Averill, “we must join with 
them in offering the hopeless plea that they are 
Indians and they are different.” 


RESOLUTIONS. 


I 45 


44 It would hardly do to let them know it, but we 
may as well be candid to ourselves and own that 
they possess the balance of power because of that 
mysterious difference,” he cheerily observed. 44 We 
might exhaust a deal of brain force inventing an 
especial punishment for the destruction of the 
doughnuts, but we should surprise and grieve 
them by our scorn of their petition, and doubtless 
leave with them a lasting memory of a misplaced 
confidence.” 

“I trust it all to you,” she gave up in relief; 
4 4 but I rather fear that the impression will prevail 
that we are too indulgent.” 

44 We would better err upon the mild side. Til 
step to the schoolhouse and excuse the girls, and, 
if you agree with me, we will appoint an Indian 
picnic to take place Saturday afternoon.” 

44 O Herbert, the wild Indian picnic that the 
girls have talked about? ” she exclaimed, with re¬ 
turning doubt. 

“Not necessarily wild, unless with glee. Our 
girls are making strenuous efforts to walk in the 
civilized way the whole year through, and I think 
they are entitled to a gipsy frolic in the Indian 
summer.” 

44 They wish to invite the boys and have an out¬ 
door feast. Polly’s grandmother and aunt arrived 
to-day, and have pitched their teepe in the brush 


ABOVE THE R’ANGE. 


I46 

below the bluff. No doubt they will remain over 
Saturday, and will lend their teepe to the festival,” 
considered Mrs. Averill. 

“ Three Braids will be an appropriate chaperone,” 
he smiled, “ since it is to be, in a degree, an old- 
time Indian frolic. The boys would like to dance 
by a camp-fire in the evening, inside the grounds, 
but I must consult Mr. Greely as to that.” 

“Not the tortuous sun dance, with the mystery 
tree, even in mere sport,” she said. 

“By no means, nor the medicine dance; but 
there are other dances of a harmless order that it 
might be safe for them to imitate.” 

As Mr. Averill passed the windows of the little 
schoolhouse, he observed the girls, with heads up¬ 
right, sitting in the seats in regular school order. 
When he stepped inside the door every face was 
hidden in the arms upon the desks, though he was 
well aware that twenty pairs of ears were pricked 
up to the highest stretch awaiting his remarks. 
Their accurate hearing traced him to the space 
before the platform, though no eye was lifted from 
the shy retreat. 

“Mrs. Averill and I were glad to receive your 
petition, girls,” he said. “ We cheerfully excuse 
you, and we hope you mean to try very hard to 
keep good order in the kitchen during the rest of 
Miss Delaney’s absence. We have decided to let 


RESOLUTIONS. I47 

you have an Indian picnic Saturday afternoon, if 
it does not rain.” 

A stir of rapture swept the timorous group ; then 
Katy gave a little cough, the signal for a concert 
recitation they had been rehearsing previous to 
Mr. Averill’s arrival, to express their gratitude for 
the forgiveness they were sure of gaining. 

“ Thank — you — Mr. Averill — and — Mrs. 
Averill. You — are — very — too — kind, — in¬ 
deed.” 

It was a smothered vote of thanks, as every face 
remained secluded, but it was received with cordial 
interest. 

When Mr. Averill had retired, the girls sprang 
out of ambush and began to eagerly discuss the 
Indian picnic. 

“ We can wear our moccasins and beaded stock¬ 
ings,” said Louise. 

“ And do our hair in two very tight braids, and 
tie beads on the points, and wear shawls on our 
heads,” Amelia added. 

“We shall talk Dakota. Not one word of 
English will we speak,” from Nancy. “ If the 
teachers talk to us we cannot understand them, 
and they cannot understand us.” 

“We can loo-ok straight at the teachers and talk 
saucy if we weesh,” was the exceptional privilege 
claimed by Jane. 


148 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“ But we shall not wish,” Katy said. “We shall 
all feel very good and happy; and Mr. Averill 
would know it if he heard you, for he talks 
Dakota.” 

“ We can paint our faces,” Jane continued. 
“ Green will be my nose, and there will be a beeg 
black stripe on my fore-head. One cheek will be 
blue, and the other will be yellow.” 

“ Kee ! you cannot do that,” Hester said. “Mrs. 
Averill only lets us paint our cheeks with red 
flannel that the color comes out of, when we play 
Indian.” 

“ If our people could be here, with very lots of 
wasna,” wished Louise. “Three Braids will be 
here, and Polly’s aunt Fast Walker, but of course 
they cannot feast us on their Indian hash.” 

“We can make rosebud porridge, and bake 
beans in a hole in the sand,” said Hester; “ and I 
hope the boys can shoot a curlew, to stew with wild 
turnips.” 

“ That would not be a real Indian picnic,” 
Sarah said. She had been thinking deeply, but 
she had not spoken till that moment. Sarah was 
enthroned upon the organ stool, while the rest were 
squatted on the platform. 

“ Then what would be? ” Katy asked. 

“ Something else — so very nice indeed,” mys¬ 
teriously. “ One girl only can I tell at first.” 


RESOLUTIONS. I49 

She looked about to choose a confidant. She 
fixed her gaze on Inez, who was well established 
in her favor since the recent understanding. “ If 
you were full Indian I should first tell you, but you 
are only half Indian, so I cannot. I — shall — 
cho-o-o-se ”— she changed her gaze amid a breath¬ 
less hush— “ Amelia High Hawk.” 

The elected rose and stepped forth. 

Sarah slowly whirled upon the stool five times 
to curb the general impatience, after which she 
gently pulled Amelia’s ear till she had brought it to 
the level of her lips. 

It is just three words,” was her announce¬ 
ment ; then she whispered in Amelia’s ear. 

“ Tokee ! so soon after we have been excused ! ” 
exclaimed Amelia, straightening up in surprise. 

“ They said we could have a real Indian picnic. 
We should not be disobeying, for there is no rule 
against it,” argued Sarah. 

“ Because they never thought there would need 
to be a rule,” Amelia said. 

“ Only two rules have we broken for a long 
time,— tattooing and going in the boat. There 
was no rule against fasting and telling ghost 
stories, and firing the gun, and fighting for the 
doughnuts. If we are not always good, it is be¬ 
cause there are not rules enough. Do you not 
remember that I asked Mrs. Averill how we 


150 ABOVE THE RANGE. 

should know if we were good, and she said if we 
obeyed we would be good? If they find this out 
they can make a rule against it, and never will we 
disobey it.’ ? 

Thus did the deluded Indian maiden forthwith 
sew new seeds of error in the minds of her com¬ 
panions. 

44 It would be quite nice — I think — but I am 
not real sure,” revolved Amelia. 

44 If you were a Two Kettle Indian, you would 
be real sure. I wish I had not told you first,” and 
Sarah cast a scornful look upon Amelia, who had 
dropped into a chair beside the organ. 44 You are 
a White Swan Indian, like Hester. You can tell 
Indian stories, but you do not think all Indian 
thoughts. Your are like the half Indians — }T>u 
and Hester — your thoughts are half white and half 
Indian. I wish I had first told Jane. She is a 
Four Bear Indian, but she is much like a Two 
Kettle. She is a young girl,— you have had three 
birthdays more than she,— but she is a brave girl. 
She thinks all Indian thoughts.” 

Jane swelled with inward pride at this distin¬ 
guished flattery, but she humbly turned her back 
upon the group and occupied herself in lacing an 
expansive government shoe with a misfit gingham 
string which she had wrested from her hair. 

44 Never again shall I believe Amelia’s ghost 


RESOLUTIONS. 


151 

stories,” was the last stripe the illuded princess 
laid on the offender, while the group looked on 
with bated breath. 

The myth-teller felt the ground of her authority 
giving way and hastened to reply, although with 
dignity: — 

“ I think all Indian thoughts, but all Indians do 
not think the same thoughts. But I shall think 
the same with you this time, and you need not 
wish you had first told Jane.” 

This restored peace and strengthened Sarah’s 
influence, though she felt that she must put a 
watch and ward upon her plan. 

“ I shall tell no more of you this time,” she 
said. “ Three Braids and Fast Walker will next 
know it. I shall show them very lots of nice 
patchwork pieces Miss Peck has given me, and if 
they say yes, we will have a real Indian picnic.” 

“Who will next be told?” Jane ceased her 
struggles with the gingham string to eagerly in¬ 
quire. 

“ Mario and Baptiste. Mario is only half 
Indian, but because he is a boy he thinks all Indian 
thoughts. Then I shall ask the full Indian girls 
who will promise to think the same thoughts that I 
do to hold up the right side.” 

“When shall you ask the full Indian girls to 
hold up the right side? ” pressed Jane. 


152 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“ I cannot quite tell — you must ask no more,” 
checked Sarah. “ Next the half Indian may hold 
up the right side. Gertrude Parsons and Rebecca 
Hoke are only quarter Indians. I am not sure 
that I shall ask them. They are too near white. 
About as soon would I ask Lilian and Clark as 
Gertrude and Rebecca,” Sarah added cautiously. 

The two middle-sized girls of remote Indian 
lineage uttered a remonstrant “E-ah!” but were 
too abashed to press their claim. That they were 
so near white was a misfortune which they must 
endure as best they could. 

The enticing fence which Sarah built around 
her plan created the desired effect. There was a 
general interest to scale it and investigate the mys¬ 
tery inside, with one exception. 

“ I do not care to know,” said Inez. “ I am 
very sad once more. I shall not be happy at the 
Indian picnic. I shall undo my braid and snarl 
my hair all up, and throw very lots of dust on my 
head, and I shall sit inside of Three Braids’s teepe 
and do nothing, and you cannot make me speak. 
I shall have some sinew in my lap that I could be 
pulling out to make thread for my beadwork, but 
I shall not pull one thread. I shall just look at 
the ground this way.” 

The splendid dark eyes stared with hopeless 
rigor at a mouse-hole in a corner of the platform. 


RESOLUTIONS. 153 

The girls respected the relapse of Inez’s mourn¬ 
ing for Alphonso by making no reply. 

Here the door came open and a troop of small 
girls, headed by the twin, walked in. 

“ You short girls must stay out,” said Sarah. 
“We have much to say about the Indian picnic 
that you can’t know.” 

“I shall turn a toad over and make it rain,” 
resolved the twin, with supernatural confidence. 

The older girls were seized with consternation. 

“ Ee! you must not do that,” Sarah cried. 
“You will stop the picnic.” 

“You shall give me very lots of preety things 
if I do not make it rain,” was Alomina’s overture. 

No one doubted that the twin could make it 
rain, were she disposed, and a compromise was 
hastily effected by the promise of some cherished 
article of Alomina’s choice from all the older girls. 

“The little scissors in my work-box from the 
East are very sharp,” said Inez, rallying from her 
rigor to assist in viewing the alarming situation. 
“ If I give them to her she will hide them in her 
dress and cut the tablecloth and curtains, and the 
sheets and bedclothes, and I do not know if Mrs. 
Averill will not find her out and put her in the 
think-room. Very fast she spoiled Morning-glory, 
and she will spoil Sarah’s best doll and the others 
very fast.” 


J S4 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


When all was settled to her mind, the twin re¬ 
voked her decision to disturb the elements through 
the medium of the toad. 

“Now of course, if I have the leetle sceessor 
and so many preety things, I shall not turn a toad 
over, and of course it will not rain,” she said, with 
sweet complacency. 

“Very big pay you will have,” said Sarah. 
“ Now you short girls must go out, for I have a 
thing to tell the long and middle-sized girls.” 

The children trooped out and closed the door. 

“ Now all must hold up the right side to promise 
that you will not say one word, — even to each 
other,” Sarah said. “You can talk about the 
Indian picnic, but not the real Indian picnic.” 

Whatever the secret misgivings on the part of 
Katy and some others, all the hands were raised, 
Inez joining in the pledge. 

The girls were rising to disband when the door 
burst open and the children rushed back, charged 
with wondrous news. 

“We think it is Ho-ke-la and his pony, and 
Mario’s bronco, and some more boys! ” Anna 
cried. “It loo-k so funny that we do not know 
if something is the matter.” 


CHAPTER XII. 


MOURNING GIFTS 



HE girls flew out to view the curious procession 


1 coming toward the stile. Ho-ke-la slowly 
walked beside his pony, which was hobbling in a 
most unusual manner, with a downcast head. Next 
came Mario, with his bronco harnessed to a drag 
which hauled a leather trunk. A party of the boys 
were following, with funereal steps, in Indian file. 

44 Ho-ke-la’s hair has been cut off and he is 
mourning. He has come to give away his things,” 
was Nancy’s quick conclusion. 

44 Why does he not give them to the boys? ” said 
Katy. 44 He has never spoken to the girls.” 

44 But he has looked at us,” said Nancy; 44 and 
of course an Indian boy had always rather give 
things to the girls.” 

44 Kee ! she thinks that Ho-ke-la likes us civilized 
girls. Of course he does not care one bit for us,” 
disclaimed Katy. 44 He is only a wild Indian boy. 
He is not like — Baptiste — and — many others.” 

44 She means Mario ! ” laughed Nancy. 

44 She means Mario! She means Mario!” 
echoed several voices. 


'55 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


156 

“ Ee ! ” cried Katy, and she turned her back, 
running toward the stile. 

Lilian had remained upon the stile after Clark’s 
abrupt departure, and had lost herself in studying 
her German lesson. She was somewhat startled 
by the sudden flocking of the girls about her, and 
looked up to see the train of boys close by. 

Nancy had surmised correctly. Ho-ke-la’s 
head was now in civilized trim, to the vast improve¬ 
ment of his personal appearance. Clark had 
pityingly refrained from carrying out his threat 
to shear the wild boy closer than a monk, and 
had accomplished most artistic work, but with dis¬ 
astrous results. 

Ho-ke-la’s face and attitude expressed deep 
melancholy for the loss he had sustained. He had 
shaved his pony’s mane and tail, and coated him 
with gumbo mud, in token of the owner’s dire 
humility. To one fore foot was tied a flat stone, 
which the pony dragged with difficulty, typifying 
Ho-ke-la’s painful progress thus far in the civi¬ 
lized way. To complete the dispirited picture, the 
pony’s head was drawn down with a strap that ran 
between his fore legs and was fastened to the 
saddle-girth. 

When the mourning party reached the stile, 
Mario brought the trunk into the foreground, and 
at once began his duties as the mourner’s spokes- 


MOURNING GIFTS. 


157 


man. He informed the girls that Ho-ke-la was to 
give away his personal property, but he did not 
wish to give it to the boys, as they were all short- 
haired, so he would bestow it on the girls. 

It had been rumored that the wild boy was quite 
wealthy in a.certain line of trappings, and there 
was a deal of interest among the girls as to who 
would be the favored ones; but etiquette required 
that there should be no unbecoming eagerness, 
nor jealousy in case one failed to be remembered 
by the mourner. 

Mario took off the saddle and a gun and trap 
attached to it, and laid them on the ground. He 
then consulted with much dignity a red-covered 
memorandum book, and began distributing the 
gifts, the mourner standing by in dolorous silence, 
tending to discourage all resemblance of elation 
in the legatees. 

“ The pony is Lilian Swift Bird’s,” he an¬ 
nounced. 

Lilian was much surprised to be preferred above 
the Indian girls in the bestowal of the highest gift, 
but she stepped forward and received it, shaking 
hands with Ho-ke-la to express her thanks. She 
hastily relieved the pony of the stone and head- 
strap, with Baptiste’s assistance. 

“ I shall ask Dolphus to wash off the mud, and 
comb and brush the pony, and I think Mr. Averill 


158 ABOVE THE RANGE. 

will let me put him in the mission pasture,” she 
remarked. “ I shall give him back when Stephen 
is through mourning,” 

“Keel she calls Ho-ke-la Stee-venn!” Jane 
exclaimed. “ Such funny school names do they 
give the Indian boys.” 

“ It is not the custom to take back a mourning 
gift,” said Sarah. “An Indian is very generous 
when he is sad. I have seen rich Indians make 
themselves very poor indeed, so much they gave 
away when they were sad. An Indian is not 
ashamed to mourn, but he must have no tears in 
his eyes unless his child has just died. He cannot 
have tears if his wife has died. 

“ That is not fair,” said Hester. “ They should 
let him have tears for his wife, if she has been 
good to him. My father would have tears for my 
mother, I am quite sure.” 

“ Mine, too,” trusted Louise. 

“ Because they have begun to walk in the white 
man’s road and are thinking white thoughts,” 
censured Sarah, rather absently, while guessing 
at the contents of the leather trunk. 

“ I can trade the pony back for something worth 
but very little,” Lilian planned anew. 

“ He is worth but very leetle,”Jane discerned. 
“ He have a hump that is upside down, and he 
stand croo-ked on his legs.” 


MOURNING GIFTS. 


"*S9 

The pony was sway-backed and weak-kneed. 
He was not yet aware that he was free to lift his 
head, and he remained in the dejected attitude in 
which he came before the stile. 

“The saddle is Hester Big Eagle’s,” went on 
Mario with the distribution. 

Hester also shook hands, resolved to do like 
Lilian, and return the gift upon some pretext, but 
she did not venture to oppose the custom by reveal¬ 
ing her intention. 

“ The gun is Sarah Spider’s.” 

Mario relaxed a little from his dignity to slyly 
smile in holding out the weapon. Doubtless, he had 
given Ho-ke-la some advice as to its disposal, for 
the fame of Sarah’s marksmanship had reached 
the other school, as Clark had intimated. 

“It is very nice,” said Sarah as she stepped 
forth to receive it and express her thanks. “ But 
again I cannot fire a gun while I am at school.” 

“ It is not loaded,” Mario said, with another sly 
smile. 

Sarah placed the gun inside the front yard, 
which the pupils did not enter, with the laudable 
resolve to send it in due haste to Mr. Averill by 
Lilian, for safe keeping. The explosion in the 
dormitory had impressed a lesson in respect to 
firearms upon the daring Two Kettle maiden. 

Mario now unstrapped the trunk and opened 


l6o ABOVE THE RANGE. 

it amid a flutter of excitement rather felt than 
heard. The small girls were as still as mice, 
subdued by the solemnity of the occasion, which 
the spokesman emphasized by his display of the 
red memorandum book. The boys displayed no 
lack of chivalry, however much their souls were 
racked with secret envy. 

“The eagle fan is Katy O’Donnell’s,” Mario 
next announced, after looking at the list with fixed 
attention. 

Katy well-nigh murmured with delight as she 
received the pressed tail of the golden eagle, 
which was very rare and beautiful. She gave 
the mourner’s hand a grateful shake that must 
have cheered him inwardly, if he were not the 
victim of confirmed despair. 

“ I shall not feel so very sad about keeping this, 
for Ho-ke-la has no need of it,” she said, when 
she had stepped back to her place. “ Only a girl 
can use a fan like this,” and she began forthwith 
to make good use of it by holding it before her 
face, and shyly peeping from one side at Mario. 

“ He could wear it on a war-bonnet, or have it 
on his totem pole,” said Sarah, promptly rectifying 
her mistake. 

“ He will be civilized by the school, and never 
will he wear a war-bonnet, and, of course, he will 
not have a totem, either,” Katy said. 


MOURNING GIFTS. l6l 

“ The lariat is Louise Beaver Skin’s,” pursued 
the spokesman, holding up a tether made of raw- 
hide, cut in strips and plaited with great care till 
it was round and smooth. 

Louise was much pleased to receive it. 

“We can use it for a jump-rope,” she said. 
“It is so long that many girls can jump to¬ 
gether.” 

“ The snow-shoes are Nancy Little Bear’s.” 

“ I can walk on very high snow with these, and 
bring the mail to Mr. Averill, when the snow r is so 
much that he cannot ride a horse,” said Nancy. 

“You would be afraid of the soldiers if you 
went to the fort,” said Jane; “but you can run 
away from school on the snow-shoes when a beeg 
snow-storm there have been, and Meester Averill 
cannot chase you.” 

“ Tokee ! ” was the united exclamation of the 
girls at this audacity. ' 

“ The beaver trap is Jane Yellow Horse’s.” 

“I shall catch cats,” Jane began to plan, qui¬ 
escently rejoicing in her legacy. “ I shall tan 
the skeens and sell them at the agency. They 
will send them to a beeg ceety, and some white 
people will buy them, for they will think a very 
nice wild animal lived inside of them. Enough 
cats are in thees school to get me a red seelk dress 
and two white shoes, like the way Penelop-ee Two 


i62 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


Crows loo-k when she got married at the church, 
and I was there.” 

“ Penelope Two Crows was a rich chiefs 
daughter. She was much civilized at Carlisle, 
and she married a policeman,” Hester said, by 
way of curbing Jane’s ambition. 

“ I could join the church with my feet in the 
white shoes, and I could march in them the last 
night when school feenished, and our people are 
here,” pined Jane. 

“ The beaver teeth are Amelia High Hawk’s,” 
Mario continued, holding up a necklace formed 
of rodent teeth, strung upon a wire like pendant 
beads. 

“ It will make me industrious to wear this,” said 
Amelia, falling back into the ranks, quite over¬ 
whelmed by her good fortune in acquiring the 
peculiar ornament supposed to be a talisman. “ I 
can hide it under my collar, and when I have 
much work to do I shall not get tired and wish I 
was through; and my work will be very nicely 
done.” 

“ That is not fair,” said Sarah. “ If you wear 
the beaver teeth, you will win the prize every moon 
for the best work. And Mrs. Averill will think 
you won it right, for she does not believe in beaver 
teeth.” 

“ That is not fair,” arose the general opinion. 


MOURNING GIFTS. 


163 

“Then I will not wear it only when we clean 
house and I am getting very too tired, or when the 
missionary is here, and very anxious will I be to 
do such nice work.” 

This sacrifice of personal interest by Amelia 
quieted the first outbreak of dissension in relation 
to the mourning gifts. 

The wild boy had indeed been rich in personal 
property. Besides the articles already named, the 
leather trunk gave out a store of fancy work, 
which indicated that Ho-ke-la was the pet of all 
his feminine relatives. There were beaded wrist¬ 
lets, moccasins, and gloves, a highly ornamented 
guncase, knife-sheath, match-safe, and tobacco- 
pouch, with various other things bestowed as parting 
gifts before he left the Indian camp to enter school. 

Mario had so advised that every large and 
middle-sized girl was remembered in the mourner’s 
will. The last thing from the trunk was a tiny 
bead bag, which contained an article of small size, 
but of great importance. Mario held it up with 
impressive pause. 

“ The red medicine bean — Inez Cardona.” 

The Spanish Indian girl could scarce believe 
that she was the recipient of so valuable a gift. 

The reel medicine bean was only to be found 
upon a bush which grew upon the prairie near the 
Rocky Mountains. 


164 ABOVE THE RANGE. 

As the Sioux no longer roamed in that direction, 
the enchanted bean was very rare and highly 
prized. It was about the size of a small hazelnut, 
and was supposed to be alive and charged with 
wondrous virtues. The possessor of this animated 
vegetable could realize wishes and control fate 
with high-handed power, if the bean liked the 
possessor. With its company and good-will one 
need not lose the way upon the pathless prairie, or 
go hungry, for the birds and animals contended 
for the privilege of laying down their lives in 
honor of the magic hybrid. 

“ Ee ! she have a bug-bean,” Jane exclaimed, 
as Inez took the wonder from the bag and held it 
on her palm with reverent care. “Now she can 
weesh for us, and very lots of things can we all 
do, and it will not be wrong. She can weesh it 
will be all right to have the real Indian peecnic.” 

“ Shee ! you held up the right side, and now 
you have talked,” was Sarah’s stern reproof. 

“I did not think — oxcuse me,” stammered 
Jane. “ Inez can weesh I have not talked,” she 
added, with a dazzled effort to retrieve herself. 

“Now I am not sad,” said Inez, throwing off 
all care about Alphonso, since she could control 
his destiny, as she believed, by means of the 
enchanted bean. I shall not mourn at the Indian 
picnic. I shall be very happy and too noisy.” 


MOURNING GIFTS. 165 

“ But the bean may not like you,” foreboded 
Sarah. 

“ Ee ! but it will,” fondly trusted Inez. 

“Tokee! she say the bug-bean will like her,” 
Jane exclaimed. “ Mees Delaney say it is very 
egg-o-tis-tickle (she groped her way) to praise 
ourselves.” 

“ That does not sound like Miss Delaney,” noted 
Katy, with a little burst of ill-timed laughter. 
“We must not try to speak the big words that 
white people say, though I think it was ego-tis- 
ti-cal.” 

Mario closed his much-enjoyed prerogative as 
the mourner’s spokesman with these words : — 

“ The trunk is Alomina Weasel Toes.” 

The twin calmly took possession, shaking hands 
with Ho-ke-la as the older girls had done. Mario 
shut the trunk and placed it by the fence, and 
Alomina perched herself contentedly upon it. 

“ She will want to fill it full of playthings, and 
much more we shall now have to give her,” Sarah 
ill-advisedly predicted in the hearing of the twin. 

“ Inez can weesh she will behave, and the bug- 
bean will make her,” trusted Jane, losing sight of 
Alomina’s superhuman standing for the moment. 

“ Ee ! she is the twin,” was the fixed fact called 
to mind by Nancy. 

Ho-ke-la now took leave, returning to the school 


I66 ABOVE THE RANGE. 

bereft of all resemblance of a wild boy, inasmuch 
as he had shed his Indian trappings with his locks, 
and was well started in the civilized road. In 
view of all this change, henceforth he must be 
known to us as Stephen. 

The girls informed the boys about the gipsy 
frolic, profiting by Jane’s mistake, and avoiding all 
allusion to the real Indian picnic. 

Sarah had a moment’s talk with Mario .and 
Baptiste, requesting them to meet her at the teepe, 
where they might be told of something interesting 
after she had talked with Three Braids and Fast 
Walker. Mario unhitched his bronco from the 
drag, and the two boys mounted him, riding to 
the brush where Mario had set his trap. 

At the close of Sarah’s talk with Three Braids 
and Fast Walker, she presented the two Indian 
women with a generous roll of patchwork pieces, 
and was able to inform Mario and Baptiste, who 
waited near by, of her plan. They agreed with 
her that its fulfilment would ensure a real Indian 
picnic. 

When the boys had left, the girls about the stile 
compared gifts and especially discussed the pony 
and the charms, after which they went their ways. 

Nancy and Amelia took the trunk upstairs. 
Inez walked alone to wish about Alphonso. 
Louise repaired with Katy and some others to a 


MOURNING GIFTS. 


167 

level spot to jump the lariat. Jane went to set her 
trap behind the barn. Lilian picked up the gun 
which Sarah had committed to her care, and led 
the pony to a private yard at one side, followed by 
a troop of little girls. She tied him to a post and 
shut the gate, and sent the children off to play, lest 
they be tempted inside near his heels. Then she 
took the gun to Mr. Averill. 

He was much surprised, on opening the door, 
to see his gentle pupil armed with the warlike 
weapon. 

“ It isn’t loaded,” she made haste to calm his 
fears. 

“ Unloaded guns are often very dangerous,” he 
answered, gravely taking it and offering her a 
chair. “ ‘The gun was not loaded, but it went 
off,’ is a frequent head-line in the papers for de¬ 
scribing serious accidents. However, you are 
right as to this especial weapon,” on examining it. 

“ It belongs to Sarah,” she surprised him still 
more by explaining. “It’s a mourning gift from 
Stephen. Clark has cut his hair.” 

“ Ah, I understand — the wild boy at the other 
school. Mr. Greely feared he would have some 
trouble starting him aright.” 

The two superintendents had discussed the ob¬ 
stacle to be encountered in cutting the wild boy’s 
hair, and both had felt for Ho-ke-la the natural 


l68 ABOVE THE RANGE. 

compassion of true educators in the Indian work, 
by whom no superstition of the strange red people 
is reviled. 

Stephen had endured the shearing on the pre¬ 
vious afternoon without the least resistance, after 
which he had appointed Mario to talk with Mr. 
Greely as to the disposal of his property. 

Mr. Greely had admitted Stephen’s right to give 
away his own belongings, knowing that his parents 
would approve it, but had called him to the office 
and explained the proper view of the affair. He 
had reasoned with the wild boy long and patiently, 
but was unable to convince him that he had no 
cause to mourn. 

It was not the policy to civilize the Indian youths 
by force, but by persuasion and example, so the 
superintendent had permitted Stephen to pursue 
his own course, secretly amused, for all the 
gravity of the affair, at his decision to bestow his 
all upon the girls. Fortunately, long-haired boys 
were growing scarce, thought Mr. Greely, for the 
day schools at the camps had used the shears 
heroically, and of the few who came to boarding- 
school one seldom claimed the privilege of mourn¬ 
ing if, indeed, he had a pony or aught else to give 
away. 

Lilian stated all that had transpired at the stile, 
while Mr. Averill was deep in book-keeping at 


MOURNING GIFTS. 169 

his desk, and Mrs. Averill and Miss Peck were 
busy in the sewing-room. 

“ Sarah wishes you to please keep the gun till 
summer; then she wants to use it,” Lilian dis¬ 
closed. “ She is going hunting with her brother, 
and she means to shoot a white deer.” 

Mr. Averill smiled at Sarah’s lofty aim. 

“The white deer is the will-o’-the-wisp which 
every Indian youth pursues,” he said. 

“You’ll be surprised to see the pony,” Lilian 
continued. “ He is hollow-backed, and such a 
sight, without the least bit of mane or tail, and all 
stuck up with gumbo. Mario says he is a fright¬ 
ful kicker, and thinks he isn’t worth a pound of 
sugar, but I want to take good care of him till I 
can find some way to trade him back for very 
little. I thought I’d better take him, though I 
didn’t know if you would like it, for the others — 
all but Hester — might have thought they ought 
to keep him. Hester says she shall trade back 
the saddle, but Katy means to keep the eagle 
feathers. Mario says they’re worth a good pony.” 

“ Stephen will be quite as well off without the 
feathers,” Mr. Averill remarked; “and, indeed, 
he is well rid of all the Indian trappings. He 
will also settle down to school work more con¬ 
tentedly without his gun and pony.” 

“Maybe we had better keep the pony in the 


170 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


mission pasture till next summer,” Lilian reflected. 
“He may wish to run away, poor boy. I’m so 
afraid he will be homesick, now that he has lost 
his hair; and as he lives so far, — about a hun¬ 
dred miles, — he wouldn’t like to start on foot. If 
he could get acquainted with the girls, there’d be 
less danger, but he doesn’t seem to care for them.” 

“I think he has shown his friendship for the 
girls in his bestowal of the gifts,” replied Mr. 
Averill. “ The wild boy will be rather shy of 
our civilized girls for some time, but no doubt he 
will become acquainted in due season and be 
happy in the school.” 

Then they went below to see about the pony. 

“ He is in a sad condition, truly,” Mr. Averill 
said. “ I’ll ask Dolphus to attend to him at once.” 

The } r oung man was at the wood-piles chopping 
fence posts, with an interested eye toward the 
yard. Mr. Averill brought him thither with a 
motion of the hand. 

Dolphus viewed the pony from all points, chew¬ 
ing gum in meditative silence. 

“ He’s a sorry critter,” he observed at length. 
“ Gumbo sticks like a poor repertation that a 
feller’s tryin’ to git red of. If ’twas in the heat 
o’ summer, we could tie a wet blanket round him, 
but ’twould be onsafe to put him in soak this time 
o’ year. Howsomever, I’ll begin a course o’ treat- 


MOURNING GIFTS. 


I 7 I 

ment; but I shouldn’t be afraid to bet a town lot 
five miles out o’ Pierre, that he’ll be nippin’ grass 
next summer with a substratum o’ gumbo interferin’ 
with his new crop o’ hair.” 

Dolphus had a tender heart for animals, and 
Lilian knew that her lugubrious gift would be 
well cared for. 


CHAPTER XIII. 


GIPSYING. 

A VARIEGATED scene was presented on the 
flats below the bluffs that Indian summer 
afternoon when the gipsying took place. 

The girls and boys portrayed by their apparel, 
in a realistic manner, the vagaries of the savage 
taste. The girls had beads in great abundance on 
their necks, and arms, and hair, and even wound 
around their ankles. Strings of beads were hung 
upon their ears, already well adorned with ear¬ 
rings. Great was the display of moccasins, with 
which the pupils of the schools were kept supplied 
by friends at home. Many of the girls had on skin 
stockings worked with beads and porcupine quills. 
Others not possessing Indian stockings wore the 
woven issue hose, in which gay stripes prevailed. 
All went bareheaded, basking in the gorgeous 
sunshine, with a sense of primitive freedom, though 
they wore bright shawls, beneath which they could 
hide at pleasure. 

The small girls had their dolls and playthings 
bundled in their shawls upon their backs, and 
rivaled one another in displaying the numerical 


172 


GIPSYING. 173 

strength of their respective families and their 
wealth of household goods. 

“Twins have I,” observed Luella, as she shed 
her load upon the playground in the brush selected 
for the little ones, near where the teachers were 
encamped, with a convenient eye upon the scene. 
“ One twin is Indian, and one is white. Much 
preetier is my white baby, but much goo-der is my 
Indian baby, for she do not cry hardly ever. I 
can hang her up and leave her very long, but 
I have to tend my white baby very lots. She is so 
pee-teecular about being too-ken goo-d care of.” 

Though Dakota was permitted at the Indian 
picnic, the little ones, from force of habit, spoke the 
quaint, irregular English they had learned with 
great rapidity. 

The little brown mother of the red and white 
twins relieved herself by strapping the papoose to 
a hymn-book, and suspending, her upon a plum 
tree, cuddling the capricious white pet in her 
arms. 

No sooner had she thus arranged her infantine 
affairs than the twig to which the Indian cradle 
was attached snapped off, precipitating the papoose 
face down into a Russian thistle. 

“ Now of course she cries,” excused the little 
mother as she picked her up. “ But I shall pinch 
her nose and teach her not to,” and the Indian 


174 ABOVE THE RANGE. 

method of impressing self-control upon young 
children was applied. 

Luella held the buckskin nose between her 
thumb and finger, gazing fixedly into the infant’s 
face. 

“When she is black she will cry no more,” she 
said, while watching for the proper stage of suf¬ 
focation. 

The dirt that blackened the papoose’s skin 
assisted the imagination, and ere long the little 
mother was enabled to relax her rigorous discipline. 
She hung the cradle in a more secure place, and 
gave her whole attention to the spoiled child, feed¬ 
ing her with rabbits’ noses through a yawning 
cavity where once had been a pair of rosy lips. 
The berries promptly reappeared through another 
cavity beneath the dimpled chin; but the little 
Indian girl’s imagination was as fertile as a little 
white girl’s, and she drew a breath of satisfaction 
that the infant’s hunger was appeased. 

“ I have much more than twins,” exceeded Abby. 
“ I have just as many babies as the puppies were 
at home — a whole leeter of four babies. One 
is Indian, and one is white, and the other is Japa¬ 
nese, and the other is a very black indeed negro.” 

Abby spread her motley row of children, repre¬ 
senting four nations, on the grass, and viewed 
them with a wealthy air. She then began erecting 


GIPSYING. 


175 


mimic poles of willow boughs, sticking them into 
the ground and binding them together at the top 
with vines. She drew her shawl around them, 
pinned it at the side and top, and tied the fringe 
about the bottom to the bits of twigs she stuck into 
the ground between the poles for pegs, and 
speedily a tiny red teepe had arisen. She arranged 
her household goods and family inside, and thus 
reposed her rolling hearthstone with facility quite 
natural to an ingrained little nomad. . 

The other small gipsies had deposited their bun¬ 
dles and unwrapped their shawls, and now they 
vied with one another as to who should be the next 
to have her lodge in order. Teepes sprang up 
here and there as if by magic, and behold a gay 
little camp, adding touches of new color to the 
scene already glowing with the painted foliage on 
tree, and bush, and vine. 

“ Katharine and I have leave our play,babies in 
our cupboards, and we do not care for teepes, for 
we ask Meeses Averill if we can take care of Ber¬ 
tram all the afternoon, and she say yes,” gloried 
ten-year-old Anna over Abby and Luella, who 
were only eight, and therefore not to be entrusted 
with the flesh and blood school baby, who had 
reached the lively age of twenty months. 

The two little nurse-maids were attired in hats 
and jackets, and were minus beads and moccasins. 


i 7 6 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


They were strutting round the picnic grounds with 
Bertram in his cart. 

“We are not wild Indians,” continued Anna; 
“ we shall stay ceevilized, for Meeses Averill 
( would not want her baby to be too-ken care of by 
wild Indians.” 

When they had walked about the camp, and 
viewed it with a civilized stare, as if it were a 
novel sight, they passed along to where a dozen 
small boys squatted in a semicircle, watching 
Sammy Yellow Horse’s effort to induce his tiny 
Indian dog, Tipsappi, to perform the difficult trick 
of jumping through his master’s stubby arms. 

Tipsappi seemed to have no bent for trickery, 
but displayed a candid longing for the chunk of 
boiled beef Harrison Poor Shot had secreted in his 
pocket at the dinner table, and had now uncovered 
as a timely lunch. He was forced to climb a 
stump tQ. shun Tipsappi’s close attention, for the 
little dog had turned his back upon his master, 
warily refusing to go through the loop, and had 
attached himself to Harrison’s elbow. Not to be 
eluded, he was scratching at the stump and bark¬ 
ing furiously. 

“ Teepsappi is not preety, and he not neat,” 
said Katharine, as the little nurse-maids halted for 
a minute. “ He have not much tail, and only one 
side have an eye. His hair steek up all round, 


GIPSYING. 177 

and he have fleas that jump and bite you when 
you pat him.” 

44 Ee ! but he is brave,” defended Sammy. “If 
he did not dare to fight a badger, he would have 
a long, waggy tail, and the other side would have 
an eye. If Harreeson have not go up the stump, 
Teepsappi would be biting him to get the meat. 
He will bite him when he have come down,” 
Sammy prophesied, with ominous pride. 

“ Meeses Greely say Teepsappi is a cross dog,” 
Katharine reported. 44 If she hear him biting 
Harreeson, she will come and make you lariat him 
where the cheeldren will not be.” 

44 But Harreeson is peegish, to be eating all the 
meat,” said Anna. 44 He should be polite, and 
give Teepsappi some.” 

44 I cannot, for thees day I am a wild Indian,” 
regretted Harrison. “Very fast I shall have to 
cram — thees way.” 

He laid his school manners on the shelf and 
bolted an enormous mouthful; but he overplayed 
his part, and strangled in the act. In his spasm to 
regain his breath he dropped the remnant of the 
meat, and so Tipsappi had a share. 

“That is goo-d,” rejoiced Anna. 44 Now you 
are ponished for you eempoliteness. You are not 
a wild Indian, you are a ceevilized peeg,” was her 
discrimination. 


178 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


Three Braids’ and Fast Walker’s teepe was to 
be the central point of interest for the older girls 
and boys. Three Braids was attired as usual on 
dress occasions, in the cowboy hat and army over¬ 
coat. She had added several buttons to the coat 
since Phoebe’s last inspection. 

The girls had made haste with their after-dinner 
work, and had arrived in camp before the boys, 
who had not been so deft in finishing theirs. The 
kettles had been hung on poles, laid across forked 
sticks securely planted in the ground, and the girls 
were laying wood beneath them for the fires, when 
Mario appeared upon his bronco, brilliantly arrayed. 

He wore Clark’s leggings and a pair of showy 
moccasins, to which the indispensable porcupine 
had contributed many quills. He had trimmed his 
blue shirt with a yellow fringe of tissue paper, 
evolved by Katy and his sister. In the vicinity of 
his heart he wore a valentine, somewhat defaced 
but still quite dressy. On his raven head he wore 
a crownless cap, or head-band, of red flannel with 
a row of blue-jay feathers standing up around the 
top. 

He had a train-cloth, or a width of Scotch plaid, 
fastened to his waist and floating in the rear. This 
distinguishing mark of a young Indian dandy was 
designed to drag upon the ground behind when 
Mario walked. A beaded belt which Lilian had 



MARIO APPEARED UPON HIS BRONCO BRILLIANTLY ARRAYED. 













GIPSYING. 179 

lent to Katy, and she had transferred to Mario, 
added much to his appearance. 

At his side he flaunted a tobacco-pouch, elabo¬ 
rately beaded. But instead of killikinick (dried 
ozier bark and sumach), the tobacco-pouch con¬ 
tained a small portion of a pink silk handkerchief 
of Japanese design, from Katy’s mission-box. The 
larger portion floated from the bag. 

Thus attired, the Spanish Indian youth was well 
prepared to be the cynosure of all eyes, and the 
envy of the other boys, who had been more sparing 
of their finery for the afternoon, as the dances were 
to take place in the evening, and they wished to be 
in novel trim for them. 

“ Ee ! but he is beautiful,” said Nancy in Dakota, 
as the gorgeous youth rode by. “ None so fine as 
Mario in all this Indian country.” 

“ Mario is the belle ; the preetiest belle of all! ” 
cried Jane, in wonder-stricken English. “Never 
have I seen an Indian belle that loo-k so very—” 

She could find no word with which to round the 
exclamation. 

Jane had heard a marvelous description of the 
belle of Pierre, and she seized upon the new word 
with the usual avidity of a beginner in a foreign 
language. 

“You are speaking English,” reprimanded Sarah, 
“ and you are the wildest Indian of us all.” 


i8o 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


Jane had shown her craving for unique effects in 
planning her attire. She had linked into her ear¬ 
rings several rows of quill chains reaching to her 
waist, and, not content with these adornments, she 
had saddled on two strings of buttons, with a little 
pewter fork attached to one, and a little tin spoon 
to the other, burdening her hapless ears in the 
extreme. She had tucked her hair, which she had 
parted and combed forward in the back, into a pair 
of little buckskin bags behind her ears. The bags 
were fastened to a hideous hair-band of none other 
than a black and yellow snake-skin. They were 
different in size and decoration. One was “ por- 
cupined,” the other beaded. Jane had oft been told 
that hair-bags were the rage when grandmother 
was a tribal beauty, hence she had adopted them 
on this occasion. 

To improve her privilege, to barbarize herself in 
full, she had exchanged her school frock for an 
Indian straight gown from her trunk. This curious 
garment was of dingy calico, and made precisely 
like a monstrous bag with both ends open and a 
draw string in the top. It had a pair of short, slim 
bags for sleeves, inserted into round holes at the 
sides. As Jane possessed no beaded belt, she had 
the long, loose garment girted with a leather strap. 

One moccasin had been consumed in the attempt 
to odorate the air about the ghost and cause it to 


GIPSYING. 


181 


dissolve, but the scorched mate had been patched 
across the sole, and Jane was wearing it upon one 
foot. She wore an arctic overshoe upon the other. 
As a badge of industry, she bore upon her back a 
keg which she had filled with water for the ket¬ 
tles. 

In toiling toward the teepe, she had walked with 
the traditional stoop of an overburdened squaw 
bowed down with drudgery. 

“ I shall speak no more English. Ee-ah ! I am 
growing much too civilized,” bewailed Jane,straight¬ 
ening her tongue. 

Mario alighted and lariated his bronco, seemingly 
unconscious of the admiration of the girls. Then 
he walked about at an enchanting distance, showing 
his caparison to advantage. 

“The train-cloth is very hideous; it is Katy’s 
old dress, that was only fit for scrub rags, and we 
could not make it nice,” said Inez, striving to con¬ 
ceal her pride in Mario’s appearance. “ All the 
other boys will look much nicer. Mario is not 
handsome, and he is not brave. He would not dare 
to go upon the war-path. He would faint if he 
should try to take a scalp,” she added, as in duty 
bound to keep a full amount of sisterly disparage¬ 
ment upon the vain youth. 

“ He would be much braver if he were full 
Indian,” Sarah said. “ Ho-ke-la and Baptiste 


i82 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


would dare to take a scalp, and Peter Poor Shot 
and Lorenzo Goggle Eye.” 

“There is Ho-ke-la now, and he has not one 
feather,” said Amelia, as a party of the boys walked 
down the bluffs. “Very lately he was wild, and 
now he looks so civilized.” 

Truly Stephen was the only civilized-looking 
one in all the company. He was gravely decorous 
in the unadorned blue uniform of the school, while 
the other boys disported feathers in abundance, like¬ 
wise moccasins, and leggings, and all sorts of trap¬ 
pings. 

The recent wild boy, having drained the cup of 
misery to the dregs, had rallied from his mourning 
aspect to a wondrous extent. He walked with 
head erect, and kept pace with the other boys. If 
he craved a portion of their finery, he gave no 
evidence. 

“ He will not even play wild Indian,” said Hes¬ 
ter. 

“ Kee! it is not play. It is a real Indian pic¬ 
nic,” Sarah said. “ Do you forget the mystery 
feast?” in lower tone. “Ho-ke-la will eat that, 
and all the boys. They held up the right hand 
for Mario. It is cooking fast.” 

She pointed to the tent, wherein a kettle boiled 
above a fire below the smoke-hole. Three Braids 
was the only one who watched this kettle. None 


GIPSYING. 183 

but she could even lay a stick upon the fire, or go 
inside the teepe for a specified time. 

“ I am not happy when I think of it,” said Katy. 
“I wish we were only to have the rosebud por¬ 
ridge, and the curlew, and wild turnips, and the 
parched corn and baked beans.” 

“ Tokee ! that will not do. You promised, with 
the right hand up, that you would think all Indian 
thoughts,” warned Sarah. 

“ I shall try to keep my promise,” Katy said, 
“ but it will be very hard.” 

Hester thought the same, but did not speak. 

“ Nothing now is hard to me, for I have the red 
medicine bean,” said Inez, with her hand upon her 
pocket, where she felt the charm. 

“ The civilized road and the Indian road are 
very far apart. Of course it is hard to walk in 
both roads at once,” was the self-evident truth 
which Sarah aimed at Katy. 

All this time the water carrier had held the keg 
upon her back. 

“ Ee ! the keg is leaking down Jane’s back — so 
very lots indeed ! ” cried Katy, blundering into the 
forbidden English as her eyes alighted on the 
streams that trickled from the keg and deluged 
Jane’s unconscious back. 

Jane removed the keg and found it well-nigh 
empty. 


184 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“Ugh!’’she wildly grunted, setting it on end 
and viewing it in stoical disgust. 

“ It smells two kinds,” detected Katy. “ One 
is kerosene, and the other is molasses, but the 
sweet kind is not so much as the kerosene.” Katy’s 
tilted nose went up still more. “It is the keg 
Jane dropped, and broke the lamp on when she 
went to clean it, and it ran into the stopper-hole, 
for Inez forgot to stop it when she made the ginger 
cookies. And they had to throw the keg away.” 

“ What nasty rosebud porridge it would make ! ” 
scorned Inez, turning up a dainty nose in company 
with Katy. “ And the curlew and wild turnip 
stew — who could bear to taste it ? ” 

“We cannot be wild Indians if we are not very 
nasty,” Jane asserted, in defense of her position. 
“ That was why I chose the keg. I did not get 
the water from the well. I got it from the river. 
That was very nasty, too, for it was very muddy.” 

“ Ee ! you cheated,” Katy said. “ We thought 
you were bringing clean water. We shall not be 
so wild as that.” 

“Again, you forget the mystery feast,” was 
Sarah’s grave reminder. “ Three Braids is cook¬ 
ing that in muddy water.” 

The girls were silent, looking at the teepe, 
reflecting on the sealed concoction simmering 
within. 


GIPSYING. 185 

“I shall hold the red medicine bean in my 
mouth before I taste it,” Inez said. 

44 I shall chew 4 wacariga’ ” (sweet-smelling medi¬ 
cine leaves), said Hester, making bold to speak at 
length. 44 1 had some in my trunk, and I put 
them in my pocket.” 

44 You must give me some,” said Katy eagerly. 

44 Me, too,” begged Louise. 

“That is not the Indian way,” was Sarah’s oft- 
repeated charge. 44 They are like Lilian — all four 
of them. Ee-ah ! they must be white girls that were 
stolen by the Indians when they were very young. 
How they hate the Indian way! ” 

44 They do not wish to eat the kerosene,” jeered 
Jane. “And I must keep very far away, for 
they cannot bear to smell it. I shall hide in the 
brush, and sit on the keg and bead my moccasin 
for this foot,” holding up the member in the 
arctic overshoe. 

She drew a soaked and grimy piece of skin 
embroidery from a drenched bag at her side, 
preparing to seclude herself and further its em¬ 
bellishment. 

44 She is wet with sweet-water, and when it dries 
she will stick to the keg,” said Inez, laughing 
Jane to scorn. 

“ Ee! ” teased Katy, 44 and her Indian dress 
will stick to her so tight. How queer she will look ! ” 


i86 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“ She wishes us to be wild Indians,” added Hes¬ 
ter, “so we must not be polite. We must laugh, 
and scream, and point our fingers, and make fun 
of her.” 

“ Yes,” joined Louise, “ we must all make fun of 
her. She thought she had the bad-smelling sweet- 
water in the keg to pour into the kettles, but she 
has it all down her back. We are very wild. 
We must laugh very loud.” 

“I am very wild. And I must pull your hair 
and scratch you very hard,” Jane coincided, with 
an air of grim defiance. She replaced the bead- 
work in the bag, and squared herself for action. 

She was promptly hemmed in by a flock of 
laughing, teasing, wild young maids, bent upon 
the Indian mode of ridiculing a mistake. 

Jane clutched at Inez’s Indian braids and was 
about to strip them of their beads, while Katy 
sought to wreak destruction on the buckskin bags 
behind Jane’s ears. But Mario averted these dis¬ 
asters by his timely interference. 

“ Tokee ! what means this fight?” he queried, 
separating the entangled girls by seizing Katy’s 
hands, then Jane’s, in quick succession, causing 
them to loose their hold. 

“We were acting wild Indian,” explained Katy, 
with a ring of temper in her voice. “Jane 
thought we were not wild enough.” 


GIPSYING. 


187 


“ We are not wild Indians on the war-path. We 
have smoked the pipe of peace,” was his reproof. 
“ It is well the teepe was between you and the two 
white eagles. Now they come this way.” 

The girls caught sight of Mr. Averill and Mr. 
Greely coming from the teachers’ camp. All 
scampered to the spot where Three Braids and 
Fast Walker sat upon the ground outside the 
teepe. 

When the two superintendents passed, the wild 
young maids demurely sat around their chaperone, 
with eyes intently fixed upon their beadwork 
snatched from bags and pockets. Jane was peace¬ 
fully embosomed in their midst. 

The boys were likewise settled on the ground, 
playing Indian games. 

“ They seem to be enjoying the picnic in a very 
orderly manner,” Mr. Greely said. “I have 
placed the boys on honor not to bet on the games, 
and I hope I can depend on them.” 

“ The little wild maids have given us all to 
understand that they are not expecting white visit¬ 
ors this afternoon, and we will not embarrass them 
by watching them too closely,” Mr. Averill said. 

The two deluded superintendents went their 
way. 

Howbeit, as the games proceeded there was a 
bewildering exchange of feathers as the lightest 


i 88 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


possible infringement on the rule of honor. 
Several blue-jay feathers found their way to 
Stephen’s civilized hat as he was playing draughts 
with Mario, and some buttons disappeared from 
Stephen’s uniform. Let us hope that Mr. Greely’s 
boys soon reached the civilized state in which the 
betting of a feather would have weighed upon their 
conscience. 

When the coast was clear, Mario laid aside his 
wild Indian dignity for Katy’s sake, and brought 
a pail of water from the well beneath the windmill 
on the flats — holding up his train-cloth in a grace¬ 
ful manner — and the culinary work was pushed 
on. 

By and by a faint perfume of wild roses, from 
the seed-buds gathered in the brush, issued from 
the porridge kettle, as the cooks uncovered it to 
stir in flour and sugar. Katy and Hester made 
the porridge. 

Presently the scent of roses yielded to the 
stronger odor of the curlew and wild turnips 
from the neighboring kettle, watched by Inez and 
Amelia. 

Corn was parched by Nancy and Louise, and 
ground between two stones, and mixed with salted 
water for the Indian mush. 

The beans were baking in a hot pit in the sand, 
which Fast Walker had prepared soon after dawn. 


GIPSYING. 189 

They required no watching but to keep a slow fire 
on the sand above them. 

In the canvas of the teepe was an eyelet hole, 
and Sarah, Jane, and others took turns peering 
through it to inspect, with fascinated gaze, the pot 
wherein was being brewed the mystic viands, prom¬ 
ising a real Indian picnic. 

There was an eyelet hole upon the other side, 
through which the twin, who played with Polly by 
the tent, was peering every now and then. 

On account of Polly’s close relationship to the 
proprietors of the teepe, she had not been banished 
to the children’s playground, and the twin had 
chosen to remain with her. 


CHAPTER XIV. 


HIEROGLYPHICS 


ILIAN was taking no part in the Indian picnic, 



L/ though she had an interest in its success and 
had lent the girls her Indian ornaments. 

Mother Swift Bird and Aunt Losa had been 
lavish in their gifts of curious handiwork, which she 
had never used but had preserved as keepsakes. 
The girls were wearing beaded hair-bands, girdles, 
woven necklaces and bracelets, work-bags, and the 
like, that she had taken from her trunk for the 
occasion. 

The fair young alien ventured to intrude upon 
the wild camp for a transient visit, but was promptly 
made aware that she was not expected. The camp 
was stricken speechless, and the girls upraised their 
fists and sent their fingers flying toward her as the 
Indian sign of disapproval, the porridge cooks and 
Inez joining in the sign, although they gave her 
friendly glances on the sly. There was a grim 
display of table knives among the boys, and Mario 
scalped a spot of turf and waved the tuft of grass 
at her in warning. Even friendly Three Braids 
scowled at her, and Fast Walker grunted, “ Ugh ! ’> 


HIEROGLYPHICS. 


I 9 I 

She felt herself surrounded by an air of mystery 
which she could not fathom, and departed hastily. 

She sought the teachers’ camp, where she was 
given cordial welcome and a seat by Mrs. Averill. 
Here she stayed awhile, then visited the children’s 
camp, and was received with joyful demonstration 
that atoned for the peculiar conduct of the older 
gipsies. The little girls were very fond of Lilian, 
and no mystery feast was brewing in their camp, 
requiring them to keep the uninitiated at arm’s 
length. 

When she had gone the rounds she wandered up 
the flats, and was now seated on a log, inspecting 
in a puzzled way a rude sketch she had taken from 
her pocket. It was Mother Swift Bird’s chart, 
drawn on a piece of coarse brown paper, and pre¬ 
served with great care in a kind of buckskin enve¬ 
lope, beaded like all other Indian treasures. Aunt 
Losa had delivered it two days before. She had 
arrived at noon, in company with another Indian 
woman and her two small children. They had 
camped but one night, leaving early in the morn¬ 
ing. 

Lilian had tried most anxiously to gain some 
knowledge of her early history from Aunt Losa, 
but she seemed to know of nothing more than she 
had told Clark, relating only to the chart. 

The log was close below the bluff, upon a straight 


192 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


line with the mission house. Lilian faced the bluff 
and every now and then she cast her eyes along its 
broken surface, searching for some clue by which 
to read the chart. It was utterly without perspec¬ 
tive, and the youngest school child might have 
drawn a picture as correctly. 

While Lilian was thus engaged Clark strolled 
along behind her, rattling the bushes. She did 
not look back, and he passed a little to one side 
and chose a seat upon a rock within her view. 
He faced the river, gazing at the hills upon the 
other side. Something of their bleakness seemed 
to be reflected in his face, which wore a look of 
deep misanthropy, remarkable in one so young. 
As Lilian did not glance that way, he changed his 
seat to one upon the grass in supplicating near¬ 
ness to her feet. Thereupon, she looked at him 
abstractedly, half smiled, and went on studying the 
chart. 

“ I say, Miss Lilian, which of us is going to 
speak first?” he asked despairingly. 

“I don’t know,” she answered, with a little 
laugh that ended in a sigh. 

“ It isn’t likely that you could forgive a fellow,” 
he suggested, pushing back his hat and rumpling 
his yellow forelock in tragic discontent. 

“I wish you’d tell me what it all means,” she 
demurred, with gentle gravity. “There are two 


HIEROGLYPHICS. I93 

puzzles — Mother Swift Bird’s chart and you. I 
don’t know which is worrying me the more.” 

“ I’ll be as clear as cut glass — by and by,” he 
said evasively; “that is, if you are friendly. 
If we keep on scrapping, there’ll be little differ¬ 
ence to me between this part of South Dakota 
and the Bad Lands. I’ve prospected the desert 
waste from the edge, but haven’t had occasion to 
get lost in its deadly labyrinth — yet.” 

He placed peculiar stress upon the last word, as 
if suggesting fearful possibilities. 

“Now you’re growing more and more reck¬ 
less,” Lilian lamented. “It must be something 
dreadful that is ailing you. I thought you’d take 
an interest trying to find the treasure* but you stay 
away and act so queer. I don’t believe you saw 
Aunt Losa, and she asked about you, and I know 
she wished to see you, but she didn’t like to call 
on you at school.” 

“ No, she wouldn’t do that. She is like the rest 
of Indian women,— more retiring than a last year’s 
almanac. I heard she was in camp and went to 
see her in the edge of evening, after you’d been 
there. Aunt Losa is all right. In fact, she is an 
aboriginal daisy, pretty to this day, and tidy as a 
schoolgirl. She and I are fast friends, but I’m 
mute as a fish whenever I reflect that I’m her 
nephew.” Here he shoved his hat forward to 


1 9 \ 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


his eyebrows, with the mien of hiding his dimin¬ 
ished head. “ It stands to reason that the bride 
from Washington will frown on me; then, of 
course, you’ll turn me out to graze.” 

“ Oh, dear, you’re cowboyish again,” said Lilian, 
in distress. “If Mrs. Frisbie didn’t think you 
were real nice, it wouldn’t be because you have 
an Indian aunt, I’m very sure. It would be that 
dreadful something in yourself.” 

Clark passed by her admonition and continued 
to expose the gloomy tenor of his thoughts. 

“Fancy my conflicting emotions if my semi- 
Indian cousins, Bright Eyes and Good Boy, as 
Aunt Losa calls them, hadn’t been cut off in early 
life. I’m racked with remorse for not lamenting 
day and night that they’ve escaped the sorrows 
which beset poor Lo — or semi-Lo — in this un¬ 
charitable world, but it wouldn’t be quite natural 
for me to pine for them beyond all reason.” 

“ I think you would have cared a great deal for 
them and tried to help them grow up very civilized. 
Aunt Losa mourns for them so deeply, and it must 
be Uncle Seth does, though he never shows his 
feelings. There is one very beautiful thing about 
all the Indians, however wild and fierce.” 

“ Do tell! ” Clark interrupted, straightening his 
hat and pricking up his ears. 

“ They love their children very fondly.” 


HIEROGLYPHICS. I95 

44 Grizzly bears and mountain lions are equally 
beautiful in that respect,” he said. 

“I wish there’d been a big family of cousin 
Swift Birds. How I would have loved to do my 
little best to help civilize them all,” yearned 
Lilian. 

4 4 But the flock of Swift Birds wouldn’t have 
been in your immediate family. Indian cousins 
that were no relation wouldn’t grate upon the 
nerves so hard.” 

44 I don’t suppose I have a family,” she answered 
sadly, with her eyes upon the chart. A tear 
escaped her eyelashes and rolled down her cheek. 
It smote Clark with a certain measure of remorse. 

“ I don’t know what to call myself for worry- 
ing you so much, but don’t cry, Lily,” he implored. 
44 We’ll leave no stone unturned to find the treasure, 
and I’ll do my level best to keep from being cow- 
boyish, and jealous of the bride, and so forth.” 

This gave Lilian a gleam of hope, and she was 
able to suppress her tears. 

44 But I can’t agree to be the pattern of per¬ 
fection till after the missionary has been here,” 
was the new condition which he introduced apace. 

44 Oh, you want to talk with him ? I’m glad of 
that,” she said. 44 He’ll give you such beautiful 
advice. It makes one feel religious just to talk 
with him.” 


I96 ABOVE THE RANGE. 

“ I hadn’t planned to talk with him,” Clark said, 
with some embarrassment, “although I may be 
called to do so; but I’d laid a sort of scheme to 
be around somewhere within a gunshot of the 
mission — as Aunt Losa says about the treasure — 
when he makes his visit.” 

“ I really wish you’d talk with him,” she urged; 
“ he’d make it very easy, and you wouldn’t need a 
bit of courage. But if you can’t decide to see 
him in his room, ’twill do you very much good 
indeed to be at the service. Jane and several 
other middle-sized girls are to be taken into the 
church.” 

“ You can depend on me to be at service,” he 
replied. “I wouldn’t miss seeing Jane join the 
church for all the ponies on the range.” 

“Dear me, that doesn’t sound exactly serious,” 
with a shadow of returning doubt. She scanned his 
face, but he had banished all appearance of un¬ 
timely mirth. “ Of course, Jane and the other 
Indian girls haven’t much light, but it isn’t best to 
hide the very little they have under a bushel.” 

“No; ’twould be a waste of hemisphere, es¬ 
pecially Jane’s. I should say her feeble light 
could very well be hidden under a thimble,” Clark 
responded with exceeding gravity. “ I don’t sup¬ 
pose the chart will be much help,” he took a new 
turn by observing. 


HIEROGLYPHICS. I97 

“ I’m afraid not,” she said. “ Do try to help me 
read it.” 

He shifted to her side upon the log and they put 
their wits together. 

“There doesn’t seem to be the least ear-mark of 
topography about it,” he decided, after looking at 
the curious diagram until it swam before his eyes. 

u I can’t tell whether it is flat or up and down,” 
she said. “ When we stand it up, it seems as if it 
might be on the bluff; but when we lay it down, it 
looks like level ground. What is that queer thing ? ” 
She pointed with a pencil to an object in the middle 
of the picture. 

“ Possibly a green-necked duck, or else a buffalo 
cow,” was his attempted research. 

“Is it flying?” 

“ That depends. If it is a buffalo cow, probably 
it isn’t on the wing; but if it is a green-necked 
duck, it may be in the air.” 

“ Perhaps, if we should look straight at it for a 
long, long time, it might begin to seem more natural,” 
she suggested. “ Doesn’t it appear as if that long, 
slim something was a snake ? ” 

Clark slapped his forehead to assist his penetra¬ 
tion. 

“Pyramids of Egypt! You’ve interpreted one 
cipher,” he exclaimed. “ No doubt ’twas crawling 
past, and Mother Swift Bird took its photo to help 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


198 

mark the spot. Now, if we can find the snake and 
identify it by the picture, we shall be that much 
ahead.” 

“Dearie me,” laughed Lilian, “we shan’t get 
on one bit if you go to talking nonsense; though I 
shouldn’t wonder if the snake was crawling past, 
and a bird was flying overhead, and Mother Swift 
Bird put them on the chart. That’s about the way 
with Indian pictures. Aren’t those little black spots 
stars ? ” 

“If they are, they oust the duck and snake,” 
said he. “ She wouldn’t see stars and them at 
the same time.” 

“ To be sure, she couldn’t see them after dark. 
Well, that thing that looks a little like a wheel 
may be the sun.” 

“ Now you’re on a clearer track. And those 
peculiar decorations on each side are probably sun- 
dogs. If that’s the case, the treasure isn’t buried 
in the ground.” 

“ Why not? ” she asked. 

“ She wouldn’t see sun-dogs in warm weather. 
The mercury is out of sight when they are prowl¬ 
ing through the sky, and of course the ground 
would be frozen so she couldn’t dig a hole.” 

“We’re just guessing at everything,” despaired 
Lilian. 

“ While I think* of it,” said Clark, “ I’ll mention 


HIEROGLYPHICS. 


I 9 9 


that Aunt Losa gave me this key to the chart, 
night before last. She said Mother Swift Bird 
told her that wherever you found the picture of a 
cedar tree, you would find a part of the treasure in 
a little wooden box.” 

“ Oh, then it isn’t all together. That makes it 
-all the harder—to have to hunt for two places,” 
Lilian sighed. “ But I’m glad to know about the 
cedar tree. Here it is — up near the top of that 
bunch that may be a little mound, or a pile of 
stones,” pointing to a new place on the chart. 
The cedar tree was Father Swift Bird’s family 
decoration, because his father fasted and talked 
with a cedar tree in a dream. 

“While I think of it again, I’ll mention further 
that Aunt Losa said the little wooden box was hid¬ 
den in a place where many Indian things had been,” 
Clark added, looking at the bunch attentively. 

“ How much you know ! Why didn’t you tell me 
at the very first?” she wondered. 

“There has been so much to talk about the in¬ 
formation could work itself in edgewise. And, 
besides, I may have waited to make sure you 
were going to be friendly,” teasingly. 

“I do believe you know all about, it,” with re¬ 
proachful eagerness. “I shouldn’t think you’d 
try to bother me about this, of all things.” 

“No, — really,—I’ve told you every scrap I 


200 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


know,” protested Clark, suddenly becoming se¬ 
rious, and scanning the chart more closely. “ Do 
you think that bunch is the old cairn? Many 
Indian things have been there.” 

“Oh! I wonder if it isn’t,” she exclaimed in¬ 
tently. “ But she surely didn’t hide the box inside 
the cairn. If she did, it has been carried off long 
years ago, for the white people have taken all the 
relics — Indians never rob a cairn.” 

“ No,” said Clark, “ it isn’t probable she put it 
in there with the Indian traps, but she may have 
hidden it near by.” 

“Well, let’s go to hunting right away,” said 
Lilian, starting up impatiently. “ I haven’t looked 
about the cairn, for I thought it was no use.” 

The cairn was in the brush further up the flats, 
around the bend. It marked the spot on which a 
Sioux chief had been shot by hostile Indians. 
His body had been placed upon a burial tree close 
by. The bones had long since disappeared, and 
the tree had been cut down. 

The cairn was built of rather small, uneven 
stones, and was several feet high. There was a 
hollow at the base, within which Indian relics 
had been placed, in memory of the departed chief. 
The opening had been sealed with stones, but the 
relic hunters had displaced them, and the inside 
was now exposed to view. 


HIEROGLYPHICS. 


201 


“ It will be wasting time to look inside,” said 
Lilian, “but let’s examine every stone outside and 
see if we can find out anything. We’ll begin up 
high — where the tree on the chart is.” 

The chinks between the stones were filled with 
soil, deposited by the wind, and the cairn was 
partly overgrown with grass and weeds. 

“ It won’t be easy to get at them all,” observed 
Clark, taking out his knife to scrape away the dry 
herbage and the dirt, while Lilian brought forth a 
trowel from a bag upon her arm. “ There appear 
to be a number of inscriptions mostly skeletons 
of animals and birds,” he said, upon investigation, 
“ Probably the Indian gentlemen of leisure camp¬ 
ing down here carved their tokens to kill time. 
Hello! some pale-faced rascal, with a grist of per¬ 
severance and a good-tempered knife, has paid a 
glowing tribute to the old chief’s memory: ‘ The 
only good Indian is a dead one.’ A soldier of 
experience in Indian campaigns, no doubt.” 

“ That is very impolite and untrue,” said Lilian. 
“ Father Swfift Bird was a good Indian, and Big 
Eagle is good, so are many of the girls’ and boys’ 
fathers. Yes, indeed, there are very many good 
Indians.” 

Lilian went around the cairn and began work 
on the other side, scraping off the stones and 
eagerly inspecting them. 


202 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


They pursued the search for some time, talking 
back and forth, then working silently. 

All at once she spoke in quick tones of sup¬ 
pressed excitement. 

“ Clark, come here and look ! ” 

He took long steps around the cairn, and viewed 
the stone she had discovered. 

“The very image of the cedar tree, as sure as 
due bills,” he exclaimed. “ She’s scratched it so 
’twill last for ages. We must go behind that stone 
if we have to blast the cairn.” 

They dug around the stone until the earth was 
all removed, and found it to be less solidly inserted 
than the other stones. 

“ It has been dug out before,” suspected Clark, 
as he pried it with the trowel. 

Lilian helped him with the knife until she broke 
the blade, then she seized upon a jagged point 
and worked with bruised and trembling fingers. 
By degrees they drew it out till they could grasp 
it firmly, then they pulled it from its place. There 
was a cavity lower in the wall, where another 
stone had been removed. 

Clark stood back and waited, while he looked 
at Lilian. She had grown pale with suspense. 

“ Will you put your hand in?” he inquired, not 
wishing to encroach upon her sacred privilege. 

“I can’t — you do it — I am so afraid there’s 


HIEROGLYPHICS. 


203 


nothing there,” she said, between three fluttering 
breaths. 

He thrust his hand in, groped about a moment, 
and drew out a little wooden box. He held it out 
to Lilian, but her hands hung limply at her sides, 
and she leaned against the cairn for a support. 

“Gracious Peter! you aren’t going to faint,” 
he said, staring helplessly at her. 

“No — you open it,” she managed to reply. 

So he raised the lid. 

Lilian quickly rallied from her faintness to in¬ 
spect the contents of the box. First, they found a 
child’s collarette of needlework and fine lace in¬ 
sertion and lace edging. It was pinned together 
with a slender bar of gold, which bore the fond 
inscription, “ Darling,” traced in blue enamel. 
Under these was found a little brown silk stocking 
and a little brown shoe. There was nothing else, 
except a bunch of bright baby hair inside the shoe. 

“ It doesn’t tell one thing, except that I am not 
the least bit Indian,” she said in disappointment, 
yet in joyful relief. 

“Yes, it does,” said Clark, supremely pleased 
by the discovery. “ It proves beyond a doubt that 
you are not an ordinary settler’s child, though that 
was plain enough before. You wouldn’t have been 
wearing fine lace and silk stockings in a settler’s 
cabin.” 


204 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


Then he studied for a moment. 

“People weren’t summering up this way for 
pleasure in those dangerous days, so you couldn’t 
have belonged to a tourist party coming down the 
river from the Yellowstone, but I’m immensely 
sure you were a little traveler of note. What a 
pity that they hadn’t put your name on the pin. 
But it ought to comfort you to know that you 
were some one’s dainty darling — with a sunset 
head.” 

With this poetic burst of sentiment, he took the 
soft hair from the little shoe again, viewing it with 
tender interest. 

“It is frightfully red,” she said. “I’m glad 
my hair has grown much darker. Mother Swift 
Bird saved the combings — every hair. She used 
to give them to her visitors. They prized them 
very much. You know the Indians think red hair 
is sacred, and they like to touch it.” 

“ That’s the reason Big Eagle and the other 
Indians are always stroking yours,” said Clark. 
“I’ve wondered if it didn’t bother you, and 
thought you ought to put a stop to it. Sacred or 
no sacred, every Indian that comes along shouldn’t 
think he has a right to pat you on the head.” 

“ Oh, I’m used to it. They pat Miss Delaney 
just the same — her hair is red, you know, — and 
Alma Parsons. But there’s one good thing — 


HIEROGLYPHICS. 205 

they would never harm a red-headed child they had 
captured.” 

“ That’s why your captor didn’t rob you of your 
jewelry. Otherwise he would have used it to 
adorn his buckskin shirt. Darling wouldn’t have 
applied to him, but I don’t believe he would have 
minded that.” 

Lilian took the pin and looked at it with misty 
eyes. 

“ How often mother would have called me that, 
if we hadn’t lost each other. Oh, I want her more 
and more — I want my mother, right now ! ” she 
exclaimed, in a beseeching, childlike tone. 

“ Perhaps you think I don’t want mine,” Clark 
brushed away a tear. “I tell you she was good 
and beautiful. She’d been to college, but it hadn’t 
spoiled her in the least for every-day affairs. She 
knew just how to make home jolly, and she didn’t 
get discouraged when the money all gave out. 
Great guns ! but I was happy back there when I 
was a little fellow. After mother died, — when I 
was twelve, — I began to go down hill in mind 
and manners, not to speak of principles. Father 
had to give most of his time to pushing his inven¬ 
tion and the infringement lawsuit I’ve told you of, 
and I didn’t see very much of him. Being in the 
Indian country hasn’t made me any steadier. 
You’ve done your level best to keep me straight, 


20 6 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


and if it hadn’t been for you — but you’ve heard 
that times enough.” Clark grew darkly silent, 
with the air of a discouraged reprobate. 

“ Dear me, how dreadfully you talk. But I 
don’t believe you’ve been so very reckless, after 
all. You’re just trying to seem like a cowboy.” 
Lilian scanned his clear, handsome face with sus¬ 
picious trust. “ Did you ever smoke cigarettes, 
and play cards, and bet on horse-races, as I’ve 
heard the dreadful cowboys do ? ” 

4 ‘ I should hope not, after knowing mother 
twelve years, and you a quarter of that time. 
But I can’t tell what I might do if you went off, 
and I took to the range. I wouldn’t be so beastly 
selfish as to hope you wouldn’t find your parents, 
or relatives, if you have no parents, or at any rate 
be sent off to a white girls’ school, but imagine 
how ’twould be with me if you were gone.” 

“Yes, poor boy, I should be always pitying 
you, and wondering if you were missing me too 
fearfully — though that is very too conceited.” 

Then they laughed together to revive their spirits. 

Clark replaced the stone, while Lilian dreamed 
another moment on her treasure. 

“ I do wonder how they looked,” she said. “ I 
love to think of my father as a tall, strong man, 
with kind eyes and a gentle smile, and of my 
mother — oh, I can’t begin to tell you ! ” 


HIEROGLYPHICS. 207 

Here she lost her voice and put the treasure 
hastily into the box. 

“ Isn’t it queer that Mother Swift Bird hid the 
things in two places?” was her next remark. 
“I’m afraid Aunt Losa doesn’t know the least 
thing about the rest, and we will never find them. 
If she hadn’t given us the key to the chart, we 
shouldn’t have found the box.” 


CHAPTER XV. 


THE MYSTERY FEAST. 

P OLLY was afflicted with sore eyes, and as the 
afternoon advanced she curled herself up on 
the ground and went to sleep, having thrust her 
head into her little teepe, thinking, like the ostrich, 
that she was securely protected if that part were 
hidden. 

Alomina, left without a playmate, suddenly be¬ 
thought herself that bread, and meat, and cookies 
were to be distributed at the children’s camp in due 
time. She hastily pulled down her teepe, placed 
her playthings in her shawl, and tied the pack 
upon her back, preparing to jog onward to secure 
her portion of the civilized feast with which the 
little ones must be content. 

Before taking leave she stopped a minute at the 
door of Three Braids’ teepe, which was now the 
scene of much activity within. 

The girls, except the cooks, were seated on the 
ground upon one side, the boys upon the other, 
where the canvas was rolled up to make room for 
the overflow. 

The food prepared outside was being dealt out 

208 


THE MYSTERY FEAST. 


2O9 


by the cooks very sparingly, that it might go 
around. Tin cans, tin cups, and pie pans, pail 
covers, and the like were used for dishes, as be¬ 
fitted the occasion. All, however, had a teaspoon, 
and the peaceful scalping knives were ready to be 
put to sterling use. 

The mystery feast was left to simmer in the pot 
above the smouldering brands while Three Braids 
and Fast Walker were partaking of the lesser 
articles of food. The air was thick with smoke, 
supposed to be agreeable to the eyes and nostrils 
of the young wild Indians. 

Alomina placed herself before the open door 
and looked in. 

“ Ee ! there stands the twin,” Hester whispered 
nervously, while pouring rosebud porridge into 
Sarah’s can. Sarah’s seat was next the door. 

“But she does not know about the mystery 
feast. She cannot tell,” was Sarah’s confident 
reply. 

The whispers reached the twin’s ears as she 
turned away. In walking toward the children’s 
playground she espied the two superintendents, 
in the midst of Mr. Averill’s dogs, which he had 
loosed from the corral to share the pleasures of the 
picnic. They had stopped to talk with Hester’s 
father, who had just arrived. 

Alomina had no fear of man nor beast, and she 


210 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


turned aside to join the mixed party, looking like 
a gipsy elf, with the red pack on her back. 

“Amen, Meester Averill. Amen, Meester 
Greely. Amen, Beeg Eagle,” was her churchlike 
greeting. 

“You should say good afternoon, my little 
girl, not amen,” Mr. Averill pleasantly instructed, 
looking far down at the midge. 

“ Goo-d afternoon, my leetle girl, not amen,” 
she obediently essayed. “ I love you very, Mees¬ 
ter Averill and Meester Greely, and I have a thing 
to tell, but I shall not first tell you, for you do not 
think all Indian thoughts. I am in bed with Inez 
and I hear the girls talk, and they think I am 
asleep. And the girls say Sarah wait a long time 
and ch-o-o-s-e — Amelia. And she first tell her. I 
shall wait a long time and ch-o-o-s-e” — her gaze 
climbed slowly to the mounted red policeman — 
“Beeg Eagle. And I shall first tell him. I shall take 
a ride with him, so you cannot hear me tell him.” 

She explained to Big Eagle in Dakota, and he 
reached down with an interested “ Oogh ! ” and 
picked her up by one arm, setting her before him 
on the saddle. That the red pack might not raise 
a barrier, he placed her sidewise, carefully em¬ 
bracing her with one arm. She grasped his 
leather belt with both hands and was firmly fixed, 
completely to her mind. 


THE MYSTERY FEAST. 


211 


“ Heap smart twin-child,” he remarked, nodding 
to the two superintendents as he walked his horse 
away. 

“ She is a strange child,” Mr. Averill observed. 
“She is regarded by her people as a sprite from 
twin-land, and she acts her part with marked suc¬ 
cess.” 

“ She seems extremely quick of understanding 
for a full Indian child so young as she,” rejoined 
Mr. Greely. 

“Abnormally so; she makes herself acquainted 
with the older girls’ affairs and gives some startling 
reports, whether through deliberate purpose or a 
mere infantine desire to gain attention, we have not 
been able to decide.” 

Mr. Averill stroked the greyhound’s head and 
cast a slightly speculative glance to where the red 
policeman and the gipsy elf were riding round a 
small circle some yards distant, in close confab. 
Then the two superintendents walked toward the 
children’s playground. 

Meanwhile the policeman stopped his horse and 
dropped the twin, then galloped toward the tent, 
dismounted, and went in. 

As Mr. Averill and Mr. Greely sauntered on, 
their way was suddenly obstructed by the twin, who 
had dodged in front of them, and was walking 
backward facing them. 


212 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“ Now I shall next tell you,” she said, when she 
had brought them to a halt, “ a puppy is in the 
pot, and Sarah say it will taste like leetle sheep; 
and a ground-hog’s heart, and Mario catch it in 
his trap ; and— and — a crow’s wing, and Baptiste 
will shoot the crow. And Peter Poor Shot keel a 
weasel, and he poot its leever in the meestery feast. 
And Jane will set her trap to catch cats and she will 
catch a porcupines, and she have poot its back legs 
in the meestery feast. Three Braids’ puppy it is, 
and Sarah buy it with some patchwork pieces ; and 
Three Braids coo-k the meestery feast. And Sarah 
have the meestery stone, and she poot it in the pot. 
Sarah say it will be a meestery feast if she will the 
puppy and the meestery stone, but she is glad she 
can get more things, so it is very too meestery een- 
deed. And Sarah make the girls hold up right 
side to say they shall like it; so Katy, and Inez, 
and Hester, and Louise must eat it, but they do not 
want to. And Sarah say it is a real Indian peecnic. 
And I think Beeg Eagle want to eat some puppy, 
for he ride very fast, and they do not begin to eat 
it yet. Now, I have tell you a v-e-r-r-y n-i-i-c-e 
story about a meestery feast, and I shall go and get 
some bread, and meat, and coo-kies.” 

Thereupon she skipped away. 

The two superintendents gave each other an in¬ 
quiring look, and kept deliberative silence for a time. 


THE MYSTERY FEAST. 213 

As Big Eagle stepped into the tent a whispered 
murmur went the rounds : — 

“ Tokee ! the policeman.” 

Big Eagle, who had stooped his tall form coming 
through the doorway, straightened up and looked 
about the closely seated company of girls and boys. 
He picked his W'ay among them to a clear space in 
the center of the tent and fixed his eyes upon the 
pot, still hanging from the pole. Then he motioned 
Hester to his side, and took her by the arm. He 
seized on Sarah likewise, while a painful hush pre¬ 
vailed. The color vanished from the two girls’ 
faces, leaving but a scarlet dye spot on their cheeks, 
supplied by the unstable flannel. 

“Point your first fingers at the dog feast,” he 
commanded in Dakota. 

The girls obeyed, each thrusting out two trem¬ 
bling fingers. 

“ Point all your fingers at the dog feast.” 

Their twenty fingers went out at the bidding. 

“ Keep them pointed at the dog feast.” 

He swept his eyes about the company again, 
taking in the two women with the rest. 

“ All of you point your fingers at the dog feast.” 

Unquestioning obedience must be rendered the 
all-powerful policeman, and four hundred fingers, 
including Three Braids’ bony digits, were directed 
towards the pot. 


214 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“ Keep them pointed at the dog feast.” 

Big Eagle now removed the kettle from the 
crane and held it at arm’s length, turning slowly 
while he moved his eyes about the circle. 

“ All say ‘ Ugh ! ’ ” 

There was a rather feeble concert recitation of 
the word expressing Indian disgust. 

“ Much louder,” he commanded sternly. 

A vociferous exclamation of disgust was 
poured out on the dog feast and the mystery 
giblets. 

The policeman then withdrew, and walked 
away with the forbidding banquet, leading his 
horse. 

“ Can we stop pointing?” Sarah humbly asked, 
with finger still outstretched. 

The question was deferred to Hester as the 
lineal descendant of the man in government blue, 
with brass buttons. 

“ I do not know — I think so. There is nothing 
now to point at,” Hester said, and dropped her 
hands. 

“ Ee ! ” cried Nancy, peering from the door. 

“The policeman is taking it to the river — he 
will put it in the water.” 

There was an instant stir by all but Three 
Braids and Fast Walker, to watch the summary 
disposal of the mystery feast. The boys who sat 


THE MYSTERY FEAST. 


215 


outside were first to seize a lookout, those inside 
emerging from beneath the rolled-up cloth and 
hieing round the tent close after them, to join the 
reconnoiter. The girls, who dared not venture 
outside, crowded round the narrow doorway, 
jostling one another in their breathless interest to 
gain a peep. The two women kept their seats in 
dignified retirement. 

Big Eagle sank the kettle in the river, after 
which he led his horse a short way up the sand 
and remounted him. 

The girls fell back into their seats in dread of 
what might happen next. The boys returned with 
less precipitation, but with readiness that showed 
their inclination to withdraw from sight and dis¬ 
cuss the situation with the girls. 

“ If Alomina’s report can be relied upon, the 
girls are the leaders in the singular mischief — 
Sarah Spider in particular,” said Mr. Averill, on 
recovering from his mute surprise. “ I fear I 
must admit that my policy is at fault, and hasten to 
amend it.” 

“ What policy is not at fault — from first to last 
— in dealing with the Indians, old and young?” 
said Mr. Greely, turning on his track impatiently. 
“Amendments only make matters worse. Rigid 
discipline, firm but kind requirement, or mild per¬ 
suasion, fail alike to strike the difficulty at the root 


2l6 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


and impress these Indian pupils with a sense of 
their responsibility. Shall we move at once upon 
the camp and capture the obnoxious mess of pot¬ 
tage? Is it possible that Big Eagle will uphold 
our pupils in the mischief?” 

“I think not. He appears to know his official 
duty too well for that. Ah, there he is—upon 
his way to the river, with the kettle in hand. The 
twin’s remarkable insight seems unfailing.” 

The two superintendents watched the Indian as 
he sank the kettle, Mr. Greely with a stern face 
that bespoke a new line of regulation for his ir¬ 
responsible boys, Mr. Averill with his wonted 
steadfast mien. Mr. Greely was the older man by 
fifteen years, and he had served a long term in the 
Indian work, but he was not, as yet, the master of 
his natural impetuosity. 

“As Big Eagle has spared us the need of im¬ 
mediate action, we can now take time to plan our 
tactics,” Mr. Averill said, with a rueful smile. 
“We would better not appear to be in haste. We 
may hear from the policeman presently. Here is 
a convenient log. Suppose we seat ourselves.” 

“You are right,” said Mr. Greely, cautioned 
by the younger man’s composure and adjusting 
himself. “These Indian pupils, to the youngest 
child, respect deliberation and demand calm treat¬ 
ment.” 


THE MYSTERY FEAST. 217 

So they took seats on the log, as if upon the 
impulse of a leisure moment. 

“In view of what appears to have taken place, 
do you think it would be well to change our plan 
to extend the entertainment through the evening ? ” 
Mr. Averill opened the discussion of the tactics by 
inquiring. 

“It would hardly be advisable to stop the even¬ 
ing’s performance now. A white man’s broken 
promise is a serious matter to an Indian youth,” 
reflected Mr. Greely. “ Paint and warlike decora¬ 
tions are forbidden, and I have restricted the boys 
to a few harmless evolutions in the dancing line, 
among them the eating dance, and a sprt of hand¬ 
shaking movement which they call a dance. They 
wished to have the begging dance, and another 
which required a reckless meddling with firebrands, 
but I would have none of that. They have ar¬ 
ranged a sleight-of-hand exhibit, and Mario thinks 
his bronco can perform some circus tricks that 
will surprise the spectators. I know that Indian 
amusements, of whatever kind, are prohibited 
in other reservation schools, but I have had a 
theory that if the pupils could be brought by 
gradual means to cease to care for them, the cure 
would be more effectual than through compul¬ 
sion;” 

“ That has been my view, but perhaps the grad- 


2l8 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


ual means is like the ‘ tapering off ’ of the inebriate 
— just enough to keep up the appetite.” 

Big Eagle now rode slowly up and made a brief 
speech to the two men, who arose to meet him. 
Both were somewhat versed in Dakota, and were 
at no loss to follow him. 

“ You can make a good Indian of a bad Indian, 
and you can make a bad Indian of a good Indian. 
You can make an Indian of a white man, but }T>u 
can never make a white man of an Indian. The 
boys and girls are the children of their fathers. 
They will make good civilized Indians, but not 
good civilized white people. The two white school- 
fathers must be kind, but they must be sharp- 
eyed. They should be like the Anungite, with 
four eyes to see with, and four ears to hear with. 
And they should have a policeman in both schools.” 

With this reserved advice the Indian rode away, 
to find a grazing spot on which to lariat his horse. 



BIG EAGLE NOW RODE SLOWLY UP AND MADE A BRIEF SPEECH 

TO THE TWO MEN. 





CHAPTER XVI. 


AN ANTI-INDIAN ACT 


HEN the pupils had resumed their seats, the 



girls about the door kept watch of the 


policeman riding up the sands. 

“Very fast he will go, and talk with Mr. 
Averill and Mr. Greely,” Nancy feared. “ The 
twin has found out and told.” 

“ He will not talk cross about us,” Hester said. 
“My father is a policeman, but he is a friend to 
the girls and boys.” 

“ I am glad he has drowned the puppy and the 
other mystery things,” said Katy, in immense re¬ 
lief. “It makes me seasick to think of them. 
I shall talk no more Dakota this day, and never 
again can Sarah make me hold up the right side 
to promise a thing that is wrong.” 

“ It is not as it used to be,” was Mario’s plaint, 
familiar to the ear. “ It used to be that Indian 
policemen would eat dog, but now they drown it in 
the water.” 

“ I am glad it is drowned,” said Inez. “ And 
I shall speak English, and never again hold up 
the right side for Sarah.” 


219 


220 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“ I, too,” accorded Hester and Louise in one 
breath. 

“ I am very ’shamed, and my father is very 
’shamed, too,” Hester added. 

“ I am very ’shamed, too,” said Louise, “ and 
my father will be very ’shamed. He has not tasted 
dog since he was a minister.” 

“My father has not tasted dog since he was a 
policeman.” Hester compared notes with the clergy¬ 
man’s daughter. 

“ He have drown the beeg soup-pot Sarah bor¬ 
row from the keetchen,” noticed Jane, rebounding 
into English, like the rest. 

“ And the mystery stone,” observed Amelia. 

“ It was only a stone that Sarah found on the 
hills across the river,” Katy daringly asserted. 

“ Tokee! it was a white arrow-head,” said 
Nancy, startled by this heresy. “Sarah found it 
under a toadstool, and a spider-web was spun all 
round it for a teepe. Do you not know the spider 
made the arrow-head, and hid it in his teepe for a 
mystery stone ? ” 

“ I do not think so,” Katy still revolted. “ My 
father would not think so either, though my mother 
would.” 

Three Braids had not understood the English 
spoken by the girls and Mario, but she had watched 
their faces and had read their thoughts to some 


AN ANTI-INDIAN ACT. 


221 


extent. She now spoke wisely in the native 
tongue. 

“The Indian’s way is not the white man’s way, 
and the policeman’s way is not the Indian way. The 
two white school-fathers know the best way for the 
Indian girls and boys, and the policeman says it is 
right. Only the old Indians, who cannot chew 
tough beef,” — she stretched her lips, displaying 
toothless gums— “ can eat the tender dog without 
disgrace.” 

“ Ee-ah ! but the government beef is very tough,” 
lamented Baptiste in Dakota, to accommodate the 
old woman’s understanding. ‘‘ My grandfather says 
the Indians should dig up their tomahawks to chop 
it. He is sure the cows are great-grandmothers.” 

“For myself, I have a better appetite for beef 
than dog,” admitted Mario. “ I think Big Eagle 
lassoed the right pony when he drowned the 
beastly stuff.” 

“Very hard have I tried to keep the girls in the 
Indian road, but they do not like to walk in it. 
The teachers say it is wrong, and the policeman says 
it is wrong, and I shall try no more,” said Sarah, 
shorn of all her majesty. “ I shall walk no more 
in the Indian road myself. I shall not look this 
night at the dances. I shall turn my back.” 

“Ee-ah! you will miss a show,” said Baptiste. 
“ It will be good for the eyes to see us whirl the 


222 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


firebrands, and trample out the bonfire with our bare 
feet, in the fire dance.” 

“You are not to do that,” Katy cried, in great 
alarm. “Mr. Greely said no. He would punish 
you. The mystery feast is very too dreadful enough, 
and Mr, Averill should punish us for that.” 

“What does an Indian care for punishment?” 
derided Baptiste. “ He only fears the soldiers’ 
guns and the white man’s jail. What great things 
can the teachers do to punish us ? ” 

“Not great,” said Mario. “Even the police¬ 
man could not do much with us, if we chose to 
dance the fire dance ; at any rate, till we had showed 
him what we dared to do with fire. But for myself, 
I do not now care to dance those things we call the 
Indian dances. I have had enough wild Indian 
this day. I had rather surprise the white men 
another way than with the fire dance. Much more 
music could we make with our civilized band in 
the schoolhouse, than with the Indian band out¬ 
doors.” 

“ Ee-ah! the tom-tom and the gourd rattle are 
the howling of the wild beasts and the squawking 
of the wild geese. They are not the banjo, and the 
flute, and the mouth organ, and the church organ.” 

“They are very too hideous indeed,” assented 
Nancy. “But when Mario plays the banjo and 
whistles, it is beautiful. I like it very.” 


AN ANTI-INDIAN ACT. 223 

This laudation of the third person’s musical 
ability apparently related to an abstract being, not 
the vain youth in the carefully adjusted train-cloth 
and the blue-jay feathers. Mario accepted it with¬ 
out embarrassment, for he was quite used to ap¬ 
proval from the girls. 

“When he plays and whistles ‘Come Where 
My Love Lies Dreaming,’ very beautiful indeed it 
is,” was further meed of praise, in Nancy’s soft, 
abstracted tone. 

Silence reigned, while many eyes were turned 
to Katy in the meditative scrutiny peculiar to these 
children of the leisure race. It was a soul-trying 
moment, but Katy bore herself in good taste, and 
devoted all her thoughts to burnishing a brass 
button on the back of Three Braids’ overcoat with 
chalk-dust from her pocket. 

“The bride, and Lieutenant Frisbie, and some 
more soldier officers and ladies will be here,” said 
Inez. “ Very horrid it would be for them to see 
you acting like wild Indians. They would not 
want to laugh. They would wish to see some 
civilized Indian boys.” 

“There are mystery tricks,” urged Peter Poor 
Shot. “ You should see Lorenzo Goggle Eye. 
He rolls a white feathers in his hands and makes 
a white stones of them. And he throws the white 
stones at me, and they change back to feathers.” 


224 ABOVE THE RANGE. 

“But Peter Poor Shot does much more,” ob¬ 
served Lorenzo Goggle Eye. “ He puts corn in 
his mouth and it comes out of one ear, and, look ! 
it is beaver teeth. And he swallows grass, and out 
of the other ear comes a green snake.” 

“ That is very silly,” chided Inez, looking 
coldly at the jugglers. “Any one can see you 
have the different kinds in your hands and make 
believe change them, and a tame green snake is 
hidden in the head-band. Very beastly it is to 
be eating grass, and very too hideous to pretend 
that a snake is crawling out of you. Much nicer 
it would be for Peter Poor Shot to play the 
mouth organ, and you to sing tenor in the Glee 
Club.” 

“ Ee ! yes,” said Jane. “ Peter Poor Shot play 
the mouth organ so stylish, and Lorenzo Goggle 
Eye sing tenor very too handsome. I weesh to 
hear the Glee Club sing the ‘ Skating Song ’ and 
‘Old Black Joe.’” 

This unstinted praise of the discomfited jug¬ 
gler’s civilized accomplishments restored their self- 
respect, and the wild Indian exhibit forthwith lost 
its charms to them. But they felt obliged to dis¬ 
avow all claim to the ability with which they had 
been credited. 

“I cannot play,” said Peter. “You would 
think a cat was wauling in the woodpile.” 


AN ANTI-INDIAN ACT. 


225 


“I cannot sing,” declared Lorenzo. “You 
would think a steer was bellowing on the range.” 

“Baptiste can play the flute, and Katy the 
church organ,” said Louise. 

“Ask Mario’s bronco to play the flute. Much 
more about a tune he knows than I do,” said 
Baptiste. 

“ I pinch the wrong keys, and my feet get 
scared and will not pump,” disclaimed Katy. 

“ Sarah and Louise could sing, 

* A fair little girl sat under a tree, 

Sewing as long as her eyes could see,’ ” 

proposed Amelia. 

“ I do not keep up with Louise, and like an owl 
I screech,” protested Sarah. 

“My father has a loud sing, but mine is very 
faint,” said Louise. “ A sick little sheep could do 
much better.” 

“Jane could recite ‘The Wreck of the Hes¬ 
perus,’” said Katy. “No one speaks as loud as 
Jane.” 

“But I do not speak well. I call it ‘The 
Wrake of the Hisperass,’ and I get deezy and shut 
my eyes very tight, and that loo-k funny. And I 
always stop and cough before I say, ‘ Com’ 
heether, com’ heether, my leetle daughter.’ And 
I say, ‘ On the reef of No man’s Woo.’ You 


226 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


would laugh very hard and say, 4 Is it not ree- 
mockable? The wild Four Bear Indian, Jane 
Yellow Horse, is an ailocutioneest.’ ” 

“You are not now a wild Indian. You are 
fast growing civilized, and you must not be dis¬ 
couraged,” Katy said. “ Tokee ! there is the bell 
that calls us from the picnic. Mr. Averill is ring¬ 
ing it too early, so of course he is not pleased 
about the mystery feast. We must say very quick. 
We can have the entertainment in the schoolhouse, 
and get through fast, and have some games in the 
music-room. You do not have to promise anything, 
but all who wish that way can hold up the right side.” 

“ Kee ! but Lieutenant Freeze-bee will be there,” 
Jane interrupted the proceedings to remind the 
timid girls ; u and some other soldier officers.” 

“It will be nice to have the soldier officers,” 
Katy said courageously. “Tokee! we are very 
awkward,” Nancy said. 

“ Only those who are scared and hang their 
heads are awkward,” Katy said. “The boys are 
not afraid, and they are graceful,” was the compli¬ 
ment intended to decoy the cautious youths, who yet 
debated whether they should hazard an appearance 
on the public platform. 

44 For myself, much rather would I chance it 
with the soldier officers than the soldier ladies,” 
Mario minced the truth to say. 


AN ANTI-INDIAN ACT. 


227 


“ Tokee ! he knows the soldier ladies will admire 
to watch and hear him wheestle,” Jane suspicioned 
in a whisper to Amelia. 

“Again I say all who wish that way can hold 
up the right side,” Katy put the vote again. 

The majority, including the deposed daughter of 
the house of Two Kettles, raised the hand. 

44 That is good,” said Katy, looking round. 
44 Only a few wish to be wild Indians, and they are 
all middle-sized boys, who have much to learn. 
The girls can have the wand drill that they had the 
last night when school finished in the summer, and 
I wasn’t here, nor the soldier officers and ladies, for 
it rained so hard. Inez will be captain. Hester 
and Amelia can play a duet on the organ. Big 
Eagle will be here, and he will be so glad to hear 
his daughter play music. Nancy can lead the 
grand march,” she hurriedly went on with the ar¬ 
rangements. 44 Who shall tell Mr. Averill and 
Mr. Greely that we wish to have the civilized en¬ 
tertainment? ” 

44 Katy and Mario,” Hester said. 

“Katy and Mario,” was the general acclama¬ 
tion. 

44 I shall be choked in my throat when I talk to 
Mr. Averill, but I will try,” was Katy’s brave re¬ 
solve. 44 One thing more we ought to tell them. 
All who hate the mystery feast and are glad they 


228 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


did not taste it can hold up the right side again, if 
they want to.” She was cautious not to force the 
ballot. 

A popular vote was cast against the puppy and 
the mystery giblets. Possibly a sense of chivalry 
for the girls who pulled the wires to pass the anti- 
Indian act induced a number of the boys to raise the 
hand, but the outlook was encouraging. 

While the hands were in the air, Mr. Greely 
stopped before the doorway and looked in. The 
pupils rose in haste, and the superintendent walked 
away without a word. 

“ He heard you,” Hester said to Katy. 

“ Then he will know we really mean it,” Katy 
answered. 

As the company dispersed, Mario took off his 
train-cloth, rolled it in a wad and handed it to Inez, 
who was going from the tent with Katy. 

“What young fool was that that looked so silly 
this day in a train-cloth? ” he inquired. “You can 
now use it for the scrub-rag.” 

“ It did not look so nice as I thought it would,” 
said Inez, “ and how very too much in the way it 
was. It will be much better in the scrub-pail.” 

“ Much nicer you will look in your Sunday 
clothes this night,” said Katy. “ Ho-ke-la has 
looked the best of all this day.” 

When the girls were dismissed from supper, 


AN ANTI-INDIAN ACT. 229 

Katy was the center of attraction in the play-room. 
She had passed the ordeal of an interview with 
Mr. Averill, having left the office at the ringing of 
the last bell for supper. She was now making her 
report, surrounded by the whole group of large and 
middle-sized girls. 

“ Was he very too sober indeed? ” asked Nancy. 

“Yes, and first I could not speak one word for 
the lump in my throat was so hard. Then he 
asked, ‘What do you wish to say, Katy?’ and 
sat very still and looked at me so straight, and a 
little bit displeased but not cross. And the lump 
got v-e-r-r-y b-i-i-g ! and my throat got v-e-r-r-y 
s-m-a-a-11, just like my breath could not squeeze 
through. Then he spoke so kind, and said — some¬ 
thing like this: — 

“ ‘ Katy, I am very much your friend, and you 
need not be afraid to tell me what is in your 
heart.’ 

“Then a very little breath got past the lump, 
and I could tell him we were all so sorry about 
the mystery feast, and our conscience pinched 
us very too hard. Then he sounded kind of 
sa d—just like something pained him, when he 
sa id—I cannot tell it quite right, but it meant this 
way:— 

“ ‘ Katy, if I could be surprised at anything, I 
should be surprised that you would hold up the 


230 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


right side to promise you would eat dog, because 
you have been five years at Hampton.’ 

“And I thought of the kind teachers at Hamp¬ 
ton that talked to me so good when I came away, 
and told me I must try hard to stay civilized, and 
just like I should cry. But I did not, and got I over 
being scared, and I told him never again would I 
hold up the right side to promise anything wrong, 
and the other girls and Sarah would not. And I 
told him Sarah wished to walk no more in the 
Indian road, and she would now let the girls walk 
in the white road, and she sent him an ap-ology 
about the puppy and the other mystery things.” 

“Was he glad to get the ap-ologee?” asked 
Jane. 

“ He did not say. He has had so many ap-olo- 
gies just like he is tired of them. I said Sarah 
would prove that she meant to be another kind, 
and then he frowned his forehead a very little bit, 
and spoke a little bit too fast, — just like he was 
kind of mad and could not help it, — and asked 
how she would prove it. I told him about the en¬ 
tertainment, and said she would sing with Louise, 

‘ A fair little girl sat under a tree, 

Sewing as long as her eyes could see,’ 

and that would be another kind, for she had said 
that never in the world would she sing before the 


AN ANTI-INDIAN ACT. 


231 


soldier officers and ladies, and the girls said she 
did not sing in the chorus when school closed last 
summer, and she sings the best of all. 

Sarah has a very sweet contralto sing/ he 
said, ‘ and Mrs. Averill and I have been very 
sorry to have her keep just like she was dumb, 
when she could sing such fine music if she would ’ 
— not just those words. 

“ I said the girls would be ashamed to have the 
boys dance Indian, and Lorenzo Goggle Eye pull 
the snake out of his ear, and Mario’s bronco could 
not act nice tricks, only cough very hard, and 
kick Clark’s pony that Baptiste was going to 
borrow, — for Lilian was afraid Ho-ke-la’s would 
get hurt, — and walk crooked like a drunk horse, 
and that was very impolite. And I said the boys 
would be ashamed, too, and we all wished so 
much to have the civilized entertainment, and the 
girls would try hard to hold up their heads and not 
act scared. And his eyes looked very happy, and 
he said : — 

“ 4 That pleases me, and it will please Mr. Greely. 
You may ar-range the program to suit yourselves.’ 

“ Then the bell rang, and he said : — 

“ ‘ Katy, I am glad you came to talk with me. I 
hope you will never again be afraid of me.’ 

“And very fast I told him Sarah said there 
were not rules enough, and would he please make 


232 ABOVE THE RANGE. 

a rule against dog. Just like he almost smiled, 
but he kept very sober and said he would see 
about it.” 

“Mr. Averill thinks there are too many rules,” 
said Lilian, who was sitting on the table lacing 
Polly’s shoes. “ He wishes we could learn to do 
without all kinds of rules.” 

Lilian had heard the mystery feast discussed 
without reserve by the entire force preparing 
supper, and had thus received an explanation of 
the singular repulse which she had met on visiting 
the camp. 

“Tokee!” cried Sarah in amazement. “ How 
could we obey if there were no rules? Just like 
Mr. Averill will say to Mrs. Averill, ‘ I am very 
too tired of having Sarah Spider in this school. 
We must send her home and let her go back to the 
shawl.’ ” 

Sarah looked encouragingly downcast for a 
moment; then she suddenly exclaimed with ani¬ 
mation : — 

“ Ee ! there go the teachers from the dining¬ 
room. Now all the table-girls come quick.” 

There was a scurry to dispatch the after-supper 
work. 

Sarah was the manager of the dining-room for 
the ensuing month, and well did she command her 
force. She was very capable, and in the main 


AN ANTI-INDIAN ACT. 


233 


an energetic worker, though the languid moods 
peculiar to her race would sometimes seize her 
unawares. Her chief industrial value lay in her 
executive ability, enabling her to summon brisk 
and careful labor from her young assistants. 


/ 


CHAPTER XVII. 


A CIVILIZED ENTERTAINMENT. 

ERY fast we must get the dishes washed,” said 



V Katy, who was now a private-dishes girl, with 
Nancy as a partner. “We beat the boys this noon, 
and they will try to beat us this night. Very soon 
they will be over, all dressed up, and the soldier 
officers and ladies will be here, and just like they 
will all be waiting in the schoolroom, and we shall 
be in the dormitory parting our hair crooked, and 
losing our things, and hooking up our dresses 
wrong, for we are so excited.” 

“We cannot dress very fast for the hair ribbons,” 
said Inez. “ When we try to tie the bows they turn 
sideways and stick up and down, and very long it 
takes to make them right.” 

“ Lilian makes nice bows. She will tie our 
ribbons,” Katy said. 

“ Lilian is very white-tempered, or she would be 
cross because we did not speak to her this day in 
camp,” said Inez. 

“ I think she is not cross one bit; are you, Lil¬ 
ian?” asked Katy anxiously. 

Lilian was straining milk at the teachers’ cooking 


234 


A CIVILIZED ENTERTAINMENT. 235 

table, thinking of the treasure in the little box, 
which she had placed in Mrs. Averill’s care. The 
girls were not to know of it at present. 

“ No,” she said, emerging from her reverie; “ I 
thought you were playing wild Indian and wanted 
to be left all by yourselves. Dearie me, I didn’t 
once imagine you were wild in real earnest. I’m 
glad Big Eagle got you out of the dreadful mis¬ 
chief just in time.” 

“ I hope the soldier officers and ladies won’t find 
out about the puppy,” Inez said. “Never again 
would the bride wish to speak to us. She is so 
lovely, I would hate to have her think us very too 
horrid.” 

“ Much faster must we work,” urged Katy, slip¬ 
ping plates into the rinse water with celerity that 
bewildered Nancy, who was forced to take more 
time for drying them. “ Mrs. Averill will put the 
short girls to bed straight off. Miss Hartford now 
has them in the music-room. As fast as they are 
through the hymns and prayers, so fast should we 
be through the dishes.” 

“ Tokee ! You cannot be ! ” exclaimed Jane, who 
was passing through the kitchen with a lighted 
lamp in each hand. With the change of work, 
Jane had been appointed assistant lamp girl. “Just 
now I took a lamp to the organ in the music-room, 
and the short girls have almost feenished 4 Climb- 


236 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


mg up Zion’s Heel,’ and very fast would they be 
saying the Apostles’ Creed. Then comes the 
Lord’s Prayer, and that is all.” 

“Then they will beat us,” Katy said. “ But we 
can beat the boys.” 

“The boys cannot work very fast and wash 
dishes clean like us and not break them,” Inez said. 
“ But they will not care if they are not clean, and 
they break very lots. Baptiste and Mario are the 
school dish washers, and Mario said that one day 
before yesterday he dropped a whole pile of plates 
and broke them, because Clark tripped him up. 
And Mario pinned Clark’s coat tail to a chair to 
pay him back, and Clark had set the salad for the 
teachers’ supper in the chair. It was chicken, for 
the doctor was there from the agency, and they 
wished to have a very nice supper. And Clark 
went to whirl round and the chair whirled with 
him, and, tokee ! the chicken salad was all spilled 
and the dish was broken, and the clean floor 
that the scrub boys had just finished was all 
greasy.” 

There was a peal of irresponsible mirth at this 
recital of the schoolboy antics and the direful 
results. 

“The boys cut up much worse than we do,” 
Katy plumed the mission when the girls grew 
quiet. “ The Indian boys are a great trial to their 


A CIVILIZED ENTERTAINMENT. 237 

teachers, and very ex-pensive to the government, 
they break and spoil so much, but I do not know 
if they are any worse than Clark.” 

“ Much more about boo-ks and manners than 
the Indian boys can learn Clock know, and he is 
very handsome, but he is a poor coo-k,” observed 
Jane, lingering to gossip, quite forgetting that the 
dormitories were unlighted and the little girls were 
flocking thither in the dark. 

“ My brother Thomas say that yesterday Clock 
sweeten the frosting for the teachers’ poodding 
with salt, and the eendustrial teacher did not think 
to taste it. And the doctor have not gone, and he 
take a beeg bite the first one, and very fast he get 
up and steek his head out of the weendow to let 
the poodding out of his mouth.” 

There was a shout at the expense of the deluded 
government physician, who had thought to please 
his sweet tooth with a liberal taste of Clark’s 
erratic cookery. 

“And the eendustrial teacher go to her room 
and cry till her eyes swell very red, and just like 
Clock was very sorry, for his conscience pinched 
him. Now they will not let him work in the 
keetchen any more. Meester Greely say he shall 
work outdoors and study longer lessons.” 

“I am glad of that,” said Lilian. “ Clark de¬ 
clares he wasn’t cut out for a cook, and he hasn’t 


238 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


liked that kind of work. The Indian boys do 
better kitchen work than he.” 

A messenger now summoned Jane with the 
lamps, and the flow of words grew less. Presently 
the work was finished and the kitchen was de¬ 
serted. Lilian put out the lights and hastened to 
her nook to dress, in joyful expectancy of seeing 
Mrs. Frisbie very soon. 

The little company from the fort arrived in good 
time in a genial humor, ready, like all army peo¬ 
ple on the frontier, to enjoy whatever might be 
offered in the way of entertainment. 

When the visitors were seated in the broad aisle 
of the schoolroom, Lilian, through the machina¬ 
tions of the bride, found herself between the young 
military couple, in a free and easy conversation 
with the two. She had begged to be omitted from 
the program, though she had a gift for elocu¬ 
tion much admired by all. 

The exercises were delayed a little by the non¬ 
arrival of the neighboring kitchen force, who had 
not been so nimble with the after-supper work as 
the girls expected. 

‘ ‘ They didn’t think of having it until this after¬ 
noon, and they haven’t had a bit of practise, only 
in the exercises Friday afternoon — except the 
wand drill which they had last summer,” Lilian 
explained. “You will think it very different from 


A CIVILIZED ENTERTAINMENT, 


239 


anything you’ve ever seen, but it will be better 
than the Indian dances and the jugglery and pony 
tricks.” 

“ It will be a thousand times more interesting 
if it’s something new,” replied the bride. “No 
doubt it will be quite as interesting as the wild 
Indian performance, though I should have thought 
that curiously entertaining. How tastefully the 
girls are dressed. You wouldn’t so amaze me as 
to say the wonderful class of little brown dress¬ 
makers made those pretty frocks themselves ? ” 

The costume of the fair little girl at her side did 
not escape the bride’s artistic eye. Lilian wore a 
dress of green cloth, trimmed with narrow bands 
of brown fur on the waist and girdle, and a jaunty 
green cap with a brown wing at the side. 

“No, the dresses we have on to-night came in 
mission boxes from the East. The dresses that 
the girls make are from government goods. Our 
issue dresses aren’t so pretty as our mission dresses, 
but they’re nice and strong for every day. Of 
course the church ladies understand much better 
how to choose girls’ dresses than the government 
men.” 

“ The girls are fortunate to have the missionary 
women and the government men striving to outdo 
one another supplying them with frocks,” observed 
Lieutenant Frisbie. 


240 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“ How happens it to be a school of both kinds? ” 
Mrs. Frisbie asked. 

“Why,” said Lilian, “they are ration girls the 
same as if they weren’t in school. I’m a ration 
girl, too — I have to be”—there was a sudden 
falter in the bright young voice, and a slight flush 
tinged the delicate face. “I was adopted by the 
Indians,— so I am a member of the tribe, and they 
say I have a right to rations,” she pathetically ex¬ 
cused herself. 

“ Of course you have, you dearest child,” said 
Mrs. Frisbie, and she squeezed the little captive’s 
hand in tender sympathy. “ We army people all 
depend upon the government, so there is really 
little difference between us and the Indians,” she 
added cheerily. 

Lilian was much comforted by this assurance 
from the bride. 

“It’s a school of three kinds,” she went on. 
“ The loveliest of all is the memorial kind. Some¬ 
times parents who have lost their own little girl or 
boy pay to have a little Indian girl educated at the 
mission. And if people have something to be very 
too thankful for, they educate an Indian girl to pay 
for it. We all belong to some society or private 
family. The twin is a memorial child. She be¬ 
longs to a lady in Connecticut, whose little girl got 
well of the black measles when they’d given her up.” 


A CIVILIZED ENTERTAINMENT. 


24I 


“ Oh, go on, dearie, tell us more,” said Mrs. 
Frisbie, giving the lieutenant a delighted look 
over Lilian’s head. 

“ There’s so much to tell I don’t know what to 
choose,” said Lilian, as. she strove to sift her 
thoughts. “ Each girl has her own mission box 
once a year, and the ladies send us everything 
their own girls would love to have. Besides all 
the pretty clothes, they send us ribbons and em¬ 
broidered handkerchiefs, and books, and games, 
and dear little plush and velvet workboxes fitted 
up with everything we need. The girls are so used 
to the silver church thimbles that they don’t like to 
use the steel government thimbles. Best of all, the 
ladies write us lovely letters, and we answer them 
with many thanks. They wished for our photo¬ 
graphs, and a man came all the way from Pierre 
to take them, but they didn’t turn out well, and we 
didn’t send but a few. Some of the girls hung 
their heads and some looked cross-eyed. A fly lit 
on the end of Jane Yellow Horse’s nose, and she 
didn’t dare to move, so she tried to drive it off 
with her tongue. But the fly stayed and had its 
photograph taken.” 

“ I suppose Jane’s tongue was also photographed,” 
Lieutenant Frisbie said, in great amusement. 

“ Yes, and you wouldn’t think it would look so 
big. The photographer said it was magnified. 


242 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


Jane has the picture in her trunk. She calls it her 
tongue’s photograph, and seems quite proud of it.” 

“Which is Jane?” asked Mrs. Frisbie, looking 
at the row of girls upon one side, bravely whisper¬ 
ing to keep up their courage. 

“The very large middle-sized girl in the plaid 
dress, with the pink bow on her hair; fourth seat 
back. She’ll recite. Jane was quite wild when 
she came from the camp school a year ago, but she 
very soon began to show some signs of growing 
civilized.” 

“ What were the signs? ” Mrs. Frisbie said, with 
deepening interest. 

“ Oh, she began to use big words, like the teach¬ 
ers, and she stopped using hair oil, and wished to 
wash her hair in soda and her face in buttermilk. 
The girls have all stopped using hair oil, even 
Sarah. Katy brought the soda and buttermilk idea 
from the East.” 

“Why, the poor little brown maids! So they 
wish to bleach their hair and skin,” pitied Mrs. 
Frisbie. 

“ Mrs. Averill lets them have the buttermilk, — 
there’s oceans of it, from the cream of eight cows, 
— and she pets the girls and doesn’t laugh at 
any of their ways, but they would waste the soda 
very too fearfully. Besides, the government 
would object.” 


A CIVILIZED ENTERTAINMENT. 243 

“ So I should imagine,” said Lieutenant Frisbie, 
stroking his moustache to hide a smile. 

“Who is the pretty girl in blue, with the tip- 
tilted nose, in the seat with the Spanish-Indian red 
bird?” Mrs. Frisbie asked. 

“ That’s Katy — Katy O’Donnell. She is Irish- 
Indian. She has always been to school at Hamp¬ 
ton till this year. Katy’s trying very hard to be 
highly civilized, and she’d love to know you. So 
would Clark.” 

“ I’ve heard of Clark, the white boy at the 
government school. They say his father was a 
fine man — a genius — and his uncle went through 
college, and married an Indian woman. Is Clark 
here to-night? ” 

“Yes — away back in the southeast corner near 
the window.” 

Mrs. Frisbie turned her head in cautious uncon¬ 
cern to view the boy. 

“He’s lovely; but he looks extremely melan¬ 
choly. Is he ever known to smile?” 

“Oh, yes; he isn’t serious enough sometimes. 
He’s sitting very still because he’s in a crippled 
chair that’s liable to fall down if he moves. We’re 
rather short of seats.” 

“ Oh, perhaps it is anxiety on that account, in¬ 
stead of melancholy,” said the bride, commiserat¬ 
ing Clark’s precarious situation. 


244 ABOVE THE RANGE. 

“ I think it’s a little of both. He’s afraid you 
won’t quite like him, and I’ll be so fond of you 
that I won’t like him if you don’t.” 

“Dear me, that is a sad improbability all 
round,” replied the young military lady, struggling 
to be serious. 

“ He must be a jealous young rascal,” said 
Lieutenant Frisbie, highly entertained by Lilian’s 
ingenious betrayal of Clark’s gloomy confidence. 

“Well, you see we’re cousins — through our 
Indian relatives. Mother Swift Bird was a sister 
to Clark’s aunt. He thinks I am the only friend 
he has. Uncle Seth is very strict with him, but I 
am quite sure he’s fonder of him than he seems to 
be. And Mr. Greely and the teachers must be 
fond of him, for they are always cheerfully excus¬ 
ing him.” 

“ Oh, then he’s one that always needs to be ex¬ 
cused. I’m rather sure I shall like him, for I 
can’t abide a perfect boy or man.” 

The lieutenant raised his eyebrows in ambiguous 
surprise, and the bride smiled at him. 

The belated kitchen force now entered and took 
seats upon the side allotted to the boys, and the 
company in the aisle ceased talking and became a 
quiet and respectful audience. 

Miss Hartford and Miss Stuart of the boys’ 
school had helped arrange the program of a 


A CIVILIZED ENTERTAINMENT. 245 

moment’s notice, and were near the platform to 
sustain the shy performers. The impromptu en¬ 
tertainment was practically a fair success, and 
theoretically beyond reproach. There was fear 
and trembling, halting and forgetting, on the part 
of some, especially the girls, who had less courage 
than the boys, but the friendly audience excused 
deficiencies and heartily applauded all that bor¬ 
dered on success. 

The whistler did not venture on the serenade of 
Nancy’s choice, but gave a really fine rendition of 
“The Mower’s Song,” to a passable accompani¬ 
ment upon his banjo. He responded to an encore, 
and created much emotion in the aisle by whistling 
softly, with a dreamy air, 

“ The dearest spot on earth to me 
Is home, sweet home.” 

“ Oh, do you think mamma will come out when 
the ice breaks up in the spring ? ” the bride whis¬ 
pered to Lieutenant Frisbie over Lilian’s shoulder, 
with a sharp little pang of homesickness. 

For a time her thoughts were with the dear 
mother who had given her only child to share the 
young soldier’s fortunes on the far frontier. When 
she could call them back and trust her voice to 
speak, she said to Lilian, in the Httle interval 
between the exercises : — 


246 ABOVE THE RANGE. 

‘ 4 It is easy to see that the whistler is a brother 
to the red-bird. Are there any more of those 
beautiful Spanish Indians? ” 

“One — Alphonso. He’s a cowboy. You 

would like to see him dashing round horseback.” 

Sarah and Louise received due credit for the 
pretty song in which their voices blended harmo¬ 
niously. Their quaint Dakota accent made the 
simple little lay more charming. 

“Who is the delicious contralto?” Mrs. Frisbie 
asked while the band was getting into shape. 

“Sarah Spider — a chiefs daughter. The 
other is Louise Beaver Skin. Her father is a 
clergyman, although he doesn’t speak English. 
Mr. Beaver Skin is very anxious for his children 
to be highly civilized, and Louise will go to 
Carlisle next year.” 

“ The majestic contralto should go East, too,” 
observed the lieutenant. “ She might develop into 
something really fine.” 

“ That’s Hester Big Eagle’s father in the side 
aisle, in the policeman’s uniform,” said Lilian. 
“ He’s a splendid Indian. Hester is to play the 
organ with Amelia High Hawk, and her father’ll 
be so proud he’ll want to make a speech.” 

Jane went through the thrilling shipwreck poem 
in a manner all her own. She shut her eyes and 
coughed, as usual, but she deserved a prize, inas- 


A CIVILIZED ENTERTAINMENT. 247 

much as she, of all the girls, had courage to re¬ 
cite. While the Indian pupils sang with clearness 
and expression, none could speak or read with ease 
in public. 

The wand drill was an interesting feature of 
the evening. Inez drilled her troop with grace 
and ease, since she did not have to face the audi¬ 
ence, and the girl performers bravely fought their 
shyness and came off victorious to a degree. 

The short exercises were concluded early, and 
the pupils were to play games for an hour or so in 
the house. 

“The Indian problem seems well settled in re¬ 
spect to these two schools,” Mrs. Major Lile re¬ 
marked to Mr. Greely, when the older people had 
repaired to the parlor, having left the pupils to 
their games across the hall. “ I should say it 
would be hardly possible for them to lapse into a 
slight degree of barbarism after all this training.” 

“ Much remains to be accomplished,” Mr. 
Greely answered; “but the prospect seems re¬ 
markably encouraging — just now.” 

“Mr. Greely adds a frank proviso,” Major Lile 
observed. “We mustn’t ask these Indian educat¬ 
ors to tell secrets out of school.” 

Mr. Averill was sitting near by, and the two su¬ 
perintendents smiled at each other with their eyes. 

Lilian intercepted Clark at one side of the 


248 ABOVE THE RANGE. 

schoolhouse as he was about to mount his pony 
and escape. 

“Oh, you mustn’t go now,” she said; “we’re 
going to play games in the house, and I want to 
introduce you to the bride. She thinks it isn’t at 
all probable that she won’t like you.” 

“The Dutch she does! How happened she to 
say that?” Clark inquired in alarm. “You 
haven’t been talking it over, have you?” 

“Why, I told her you thought she wouldn’t 
quite like you, and that I wouldn’t if she didn’t, 
and you thought me all the friend you had — and 
a little something else.” 

“Great Caesar!” he exclaimed, in vexed sur¬ 
prise. “ Did Lieutenant Frisbie hear you?” 

“ Yes ; why not? ” she asked, in startled tones. 

“The best reason in the world. You’ve made 
me out a simple sonny, and yourself a little goose.” 

“ O Clark, what is a simple sonny? ” in dismay. 
“ I hope I haven’t spoken as I shouldn’t, to the 
bride and the lieutenant, of all people. Why am 
I a little goose ? ” 

“Just because you are. No use trying to ex¬ 
plain,” despaired he. 

“ Oh, I don’t know what you mean. Please tell 
me what a simple sonny is,” she anxiously per¬ 
sisted. 

“Well, if you must know,” he said, with an 


A CIVILIZED ENTERTAINMENT. 249 

afflicted laugh, “ a simple sonny is a little chap in 
curls, who writes on his slate at school: — 

“ ‘ The rose is red, 

The violet’s blue,’ 

and holds it up for the little girl across to read. He 
rubs it out if he sees the teacher coming.” 

“ Why, of course the rose is red and the violet’s 
blue, though some are different. What makes him 
rub it out if he sees the teacher coming ? ” 

“ He’s afraid she’ll read it,*goosie,” with another 
laugh. “ You aren’t well versed in nursery rhymes, 
I see.” 

“ I don’t begin to understand you,” puzzled Lil¬ 
ian. “ Isn’t there some more? ” 

“Yes; that’s only half,” he said, obscurely. 

“ I don’t see why you wish to tease me, when I 
want so very much to know why I have made you 
out a simple sonny, like the little boy in curls,” 
she sighed. 

“There are different versions to the poem,” he 
was melted to explain. “ One refers to the pink, 
and one to sugar. Both of those apply; but the 
special version I shall quote this evening is this : — 

“ 1 The rose is red, 

The violet’s blue, 

Will you like me 
If I’ll like you?”’ 


2 5 ° 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“ Oh,” said Lilian, joining in the laugh. Then 
she mused a little. “May I ask the bride about 
the other two ? ” 

“Gemini, no!” in new alarm. “I’ll have to 
pin my lips together with a crowbar if the bride 
must have a full report of me,” was his remon¬ 
strance. “ It’s embarrassing to feel that I am 
rattling nonsense to the bride — and so, of course, 
to the lieutenant — every time I speak to you. I 
must say, Lily, for a girl that’s studying German 
and the English classics, you’re the worst little piece 
of unsophisticated innocence I ever met. You’re 
neither white nor Indian. I don’t know how to 
size you up.” 

He gave his pony’s rein a bothered jerk. 

“ Oh, I don’t suppose I am. What am I then? 
Of course I can’t be like a white girl, when I’ve 
never known one. If there’d ever been a' girl of 
my age at the fort, I might have watched her and 
found out a little. If I’ve ever heard the long 
word, I don’t remember. Is there anything very 
too wrong about — unsophisticated - — innocence ? ” 

He saw her sweet lips tremble in the starlight. 

“ Decidedly not,” with a softer laugh. “ Never 
mind,” he said, more gently ; “ don’t worry over it. 
A schoolhouse full of those sophisticated girls 
back there can’t equal you. And I don’t care 
what the bride and the lieutenant think of me, if 


A CIVILIZED ENTERTAINMENT. 25 1 

I can manage to stand in with you — but don’t 
tell them that.” 

“ Of course not. They would wonder why you 
didn’t care to stand in with them. That means to 
stand well, doesn’t it? But we must hurry in. 
They’re all gone long ago. 

Clark tied his pony and went in with Lilian to 
be introduced to the bride. The lieutenant he 
had met before. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 


PLAYING STAGE-COACH 


HE young military couple had joined Miss 



1 Hartford and Miss Stuart of the boys’ school, 
who were with the pupils in the music-room, and 
Mrs. Frisbie was conducting a new game, called 
stage-coach. 

“ Our stage-coach is about to start on a journey 
through the mountains in Arkansas, carrying a 
load of invalids to a health resort where there are 
thirty medical springs, any one of which is said to 
cure all kinds of ailments,” she announced. 

She then named the silent players, who had but 
to rise and whirl when their parts were called. 
Most of the pupils had consented to become silent 
players, and were seated on chairs and benches 
formed into a hollow square. 

One became the stage-coach as a whole, others, 
different portions of the vehicle. The six mules 
were designated in a way to tax the memory and 
attention. They were called the off wheel mule, 
the nigh middle mule, the off leader, and the op¬ 
posite. Still more confusing were the animals’ 
legs, ears, and tails, namely:—the front right 


252 


PLAYING STAGE-COACH. 


253 


leg of the off middle mule, the left hind leg of 
the nigh wheel mule, the off leader’s right ear, 
and so on. 

When the silent players had been named, the 
talking players were assigned parts. 

Mario, Inez, and Katy were inspired with cour- 
age by the conquering bride to undertake the part 
of talking players, having been assured that they 
would have to talk but very little. 

There was a lean man, hoping to gain flesh by 
drinking the medicinal waters of the springs; a 
fat woman, anxious to reduce her weight; a board¬ 
ing-house keeper, changing her place of business 
on account of asthma; an overtaxed young society 
man, the victim of nervous prostration; two school 
girls, seeking health together, one afflicted with a 
lack of appetite, the other sleeplessness; a deaf 
man, deprived of his hearing by a shock of light¬ 
ning ; and the driver, Jack. 

The talking players took their seats with the 
narrator inside the hollow square, and she began 
the game. 

“When the train stopped at the little station at 
the end of the railroad, the invalids alighted from 
the car and all rushed for the stage — dear me, 
why doesn’t the stage jump up and whirl round ? ” 
Hester responded to the prompter, who continued 
“ trying to get the best seat.” 


254 ABOVE THE RANGE. 

The seat remembered to revolve, and the other 
silent players fixed their whole attention on the 
game with kindling interest. It may be said, 
however, in the start, and the silent players thus 
disposed of in a measure, that their love of stories 
and their untrained power to turn their thoughts 
two ways at once made them better listeners than 
actors. 

“ The deaf man and, very strange to say, the 
fat woman climbed in first and seized the same 
seat,” proceeded the narrator. “ The fat woman 
said to the deaf man”—Miss Stuart took up the 
narration: — 

“Sir, you will easily see, without an explana¬ 
tion, that I need a whole seat to myself. As it is 
difficult for me to move except in moments of in¬ 
tense excitement like that of the late scramble, 
will you oblige me by taking another seat?” 

“The deaf man did not answer, and the fat 
woman nudged him with her elbow and repeated 
her request. The deaf man looked at her and saw 
that she was speaking. He watched her lips with 
much Inxiety, but shook his head despairingly 
and said,”— 

Mario grandly rose to the occasion, curled his 
hands behind his ears, and thus expressed him¬ 
self : — 

“Much louder you must speak. The Thunder 


PLAYING STAGE-COACH. 


255 


Bird flashed lightning from his eyes at me and 
clapped his wings too near my head, and now the 
two sides cannot hear.” 

The narrator gave the deaf man a delighted 
smile at this poetic explanation of his sad infirmity 
and continued: — 

“This delay cut off the deaf man’s chance of 
vacating in favor of the fat woman. Lack-of- 
appetite and Sleeplessness secured the next best 
seat. Asthma settled into the remaining seat and 
placed a bird cage, an enormous bandbox, and two 
satchels by her side. The lean man entered next, 
and after looking timidly at Asthma and her prop¬ 
erty remarked,” Miss Hartford went on : — 

“Very sorry to discommode you, madam; but 
as I am simply an emaciated hair devoid of fluid, 
there is ample space for me between the bird cage 
and the bandbox, if you will allow me.” 

“ Asthma obligingly made answer” — 

Lilian managed to give tongue as follows: — 
“Certainly; just help yourself to all the room 
there is. I am very careful of the bird cage, but 
you can squeeze the bandbox all you like, or hold 
it in your lap. You can’t mash what is inside of it. 
It’s only full of — cold biscuit.” 

“ The invalids were much astonished at the con¬ 
tents of the bandbox,” pursued the narrator. “ Ner¬ 
vous Prostration, who had followed close upon the 


256 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


lean man’s heels, and was welcome to the crowded 
space by Lack-of-appetite, owing to a box of bon¬ 
bons bulging from his pocket, said, with the facility 
for asking questions natural to health seekers in a 
stage,” — 

Clark boldly threw himself into the gap : — 

“ My gracious, madam, may I take the liberty 
to ask what you expect to do with all those cold 
biscuit? 

“ Why? replied Asthma. The boarders couldn’t 
eat them all, and I brought them to begin another 
boarding-house with. 

“ There was a smothered groan from all except 
the deaf man, whose infirmity prevented him from 
hearing of the weighty cargo in the bandbox. 
Here the driver came to close the stage door, say¬ 
ing/’ — 

The lieutenant dashed in at random:— 

“Don’t be surprised, ladies an’gentlemen, ter 
see me padiock the door: it’s accordin’ ter the 
regerlations of the line.” 

“ The passengers were surprised, however, and, 
£s Jack turned the key in the padlock, the lean 
man expostulated through a small opening sup¬ 
posed to be a window,”— 

“ Look here, driver, that can’t be allowed. We 
can’t stand it to be locked in this way. Why, 
how are we going to get out ? ” 


PLAYING STAGE-COACH. 


2 57 


‘Jack answered ” ^ 

“ That’s jest what’s the matter. Yer ain’t goin’ 
ter git out, ef I know myself. Stiddy mules is 
skercer than reliable lawyers, an’ thar’s been too 
many nervous invaleeds killed by jumpin’ out in 
runaways in this mountainyous medical country. 
The stage line passed a law ter hold the drivers 
responsible fer all remains picked up along the 
road, an’ the drivers went out on a strike. They 
arbitrated, an’ agreed ter lock ’em all in, an’ only 
hold the drivers responsible fer remains inside the 
stage.” 

“ Great was the alarm, and the fat woman cried ” : 
“Mercy on us! we’ll be run aw r ay with and 
killed. Let me out! Let me out! ” 

“Nervous Prostration joined his protest with 
the lean man’s and the fat woman’s ” : — 

“ Gwacious Peter, dwiver ! whoever heard of such 
outwageous doings ? Why, we’re simply wats 
penned up in a cage. What if the mules wun 
away and the stage tips bottom side up ? ” 

“The driver, who had been instructed to be 
patient with the invalids entrusted to his care, and to 
leave no means untried to calm their fears, regard¬ 
less of the time consumed, reasoned soothingly ” :— 
“ It’s jest as safe upside down as right side up. 
Perhaps ye ain’t noticed that it’s padded inside, as 
a special pertection agin hard knocks, and it’s 


258 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


covered with sheet iron outside, painted red an’ 
yaller. It’s built that way fer two reasons — fust, 
to stan’ the racket of a runaway, an’ secondly, ter 
be a garrison in case o’ road agents, that are thick 
as blackbirds in the mountings. They’re attracted 
by the invaleeds that come with pockets full o’cash. 
The stage is extry sure fer hevin’ a blind door on 
tother side that thar ain’t no need o’ lockin’. The 
baggage is all in an iron pocket on the back, locked 
up tight. 

“ Here the passengers except the deaf man, who 
was happily unconscious of the peril, Lack-of- 
appetite and Sleeplessness, who were long since 
speechless with fright, exclaimed in panic-stricken 
tones.” 

“ Nervous Prostration ” : — 

“Jessie James ! The younger bwothers ! Gweat 
guns, what a stwain upon a man with nervous 
pwoostwation. My head ! my bwain ! my thown of 
weason! ” 

“ Asthma ” : — 

“Oh! who are Jessie James and his younger 
brothers? What did they do? And what will the 
agents do to the road? Please tell me quick, 
driver ? ” 

“Fat woman” : — 

“Robbers! help! help! I shall faint and fall 


over. 


PLAYING STAGE-COACH. 


259 


“ Lean man ” : — 

“ Pray don’t, madam, I implore you ! It would 
be impossible to pick you up. Driver, driver, can 
we bring no arguments to bear upon you that will 
cause you to unlock the stage and leave us free to 
regulate our own movements ? ” 

“ Nervous Prostration again ” : — 

“Thisis monstwous, outwageous, indescwibable. 
Why, dwiver, if the wobbers fire upon us, we are 
simply blades of gwass mown down by the scythe. 
Why don’t you leave us fwee to dodge behind the 
twees ? ” 

“Jack’s patience was enduring, and he contin¬ 
ued the parley ” : — 

“ The blades o’ grass wouldn’t make much head¬ 
way dodgin’ behind the trees with the road agents’ 
shootin’ irons pinted at ’em. Jest pull down the 
iron shetters on both sides, an’ hasp ’em tight, an’ 
you’ll be safe agin the scythe. They’re fixed ter 
let in plenty o’ fresh air an’ keep out bullets. I’ll 
put on the whip an’ start the mules into a dead 
run.” 

“ How fond the whip and mules must be of 
stories,” the narrator smiled, looking round at the 
silent players, who were so absorbed in the thrill¬ 
ing situation of the passengers that one and all for¬ 
got to act. Thus gently spurred, the whip and six 
mules sprang upon their feet and whirled. 


26 o 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“ The lean man could not give up the struggle, 
and he made this further protest” :— 

“ What if you are riddled -in the back with 
bullets, driver, while you’re putting on the whip ?” 

Well,’ said Jack,”— 

“The mules know the way, an’ they’ll take ye 
ter the springs all right, in good quick time, ef their 
legs don’t git tangled in the lines ” — the mules 
were mostly on the alert, and four of them revolved 
this time—“or too many of ’em don’t git shot. 
One or two dead mules won’t stop the rest ef they’re 
scairt bad enough. But ef ev’ry critter falls a 
martyr ter the cause, an’ the driver jines the great 
majority, it won’t affect the int’rests of the passen¬ 
gers. The line hes looked out fer that too keer- 
fully. The road agents can’t rifle the dead driver’s 
pocket and git the wherewith ter onlock the gar¬ 
rison, fer I’m in duty bound ter leave the key at 
this yer hotel. Thar’s a duplicate at ’tother end o’ 
the line.” 

“ At this announcement as to the disposal of the 
key, the fat woman shrieked in agony. Asthma fell 
across the bird cage in a swoon, and Lack-of-appetite 
and Sleeplessness embraced each other, weeping 
frantically. The deaf man, however, was serenely 
dozing at the farthest limit of the seat, where he 
had retreated to oblige the fat woman. The driver 
was about to turn away, but his gentle heart was 


PLAYING STAGE-COACH. 


26 l 


stirred with pity for the anguished passengers, and 
he remained a moment longer to assure them ”— 
“There ain’t the least danger in the univarse, 
my sufferin’ friends. The road agents might 
pepper away on this yer cast-iron armor tell dooms¬ 
day, an’ ye wouldn’t even smell the powder.” 

“ Here Nervous Prostration suggested a possi¬ 
bility that added new horror to the situation.” 

Clark held back for half an instant, searching 
for a new horror, then exclaimed : — 

“ But, dwiver, don’t you know those confounded 
woad agents can build a camp fire under the gar- 
wison and sit down and smoke their pipes, and we 
are simply potatoes woasted in an oven ? ” 

“ The strain upon Jack’s patience was excessive, 
and he cast a glance of mild upbraiding through 
the porthole and replied ”— 

“ See here, my delikit young friend, ye don’t 
look like a man with the tremons, but ye must be 
sufferin’ from brain disorder o’ some kind to be 
construin’ the passengers inter simple fats, an’ 
blades o’ grass, an’ baked pertaters. The new- 
mown hay sounds purty, but it ain’t the fact o’ the 
matter.” 

“Jack then looked at his Waterbury watch and 
observed ”:— 

“Twenty minutes past startin’time. The line 
charges twenty-five cents fer every five minutes 


262 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


spent in givin’ infermation on the new padlock 
departure. One dollar extry fare fer all except 
the gentleman asleep in the corner, who hain’t hed 
the benefit of the infermation. The fainted woman 
on the bird cage got her money’s wuth before she 
toppled over.” 

“Jack gave the key to the landlord, who had 
been attracted to the spot by the fat woman’s 
shriek, and mounted to the driver’s seat. The 
two strong men who risked their lives for big pay 
holding in the leaders, let go, ”—the narrator went 
on rapidly, — “ the driver cracked the whip about 
the off leader’s right ear, the nigh leader switched 
his tail, the off middle mule kicked up his left hind 
leg, the nigh wheel mule pricked up his ears and 
switched his tail and kicked up his heels, the 
wheels flew round on the hubs, and away the stage 
went at frightful speed.” 

Many of the silent players were unable to collect 
their wits, but some revolved. 

“ Meanwhile the passengers were in a state of 
mind that can better be imagined than described. 
Asthma was aroused from her swoon by the jolting 
of the stage, and the deaf man awoke with a start 
to look inquiringly about and ask” : — 

“Is it not very too fast indeed that we are 
going? Does some one know if the mules are of 
the kind that will run away? Is it that the pas- 


PLAYING STAGE-COACH. 


263 


sengers are not ple-ased at a thing of some strange 
kind? I cannot quite tell if their faces are all 
scared, or very too mad, or sick.” 

“The stage was filled with wonder at the deaf 
man’s blissful ignorance, as none but the fat 
woman knew of his infirmity, and Nervous Pros¬ 
tration exclaimed ”: — 

“ Chwistopher Columbus, my inquisitive fwend ! 
You are simply a gwound-hog that has hibernated 
thwough an earthquake, and come out in the 
spwing to learn the news.” 

“The passengers made up their minds that 
what could not be cured must be endured, and as 
nothing caused them fresh alarm, they grew re¬ 
signed to their lot, and sought to divert their 
minds by asking one another curious questions 
that each felt in duty bound to answer for the 
general entertainment of the pent-up party. 
Nervous Prostration turned to his two companions, 
and observing that they were extremely pretty 
girls ” — 

“ Tokee ! ” was the amused whisper from the 
hollow square. 

“ He instantly began to take a lively interest in 
their affairs. Lack-of-appetite received the first 
attention, and they talked as follows : — 

“ Nervous Prostration ” : — 

“ If I may be so impertinent, young lady, are 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


264 

you going to the spwings to westore your health 
by dwinking the curwative waters, or is this 
simply a pleasure twip — in which the pleasure 
doesn’t show up to good advantage? ” 

‘ ‘ Lack-of-appetite ” : — 

The narrator smiled at Katy, who was panic- 
stricken that her time had come at last. She sum¬ 
moned all her bravery, and found voice to answer :— 

“ It’s because I cannot eat very big, only when 
there is a thing I like.” 

“ Nervous Prostration ” : — 

‘ ‘ Vewy sewious ailment. A sound appetite doesn’t 
hesitate to devour what it doesn’t like for the sake 
of appeasing hunger; for example, the bill of fare 
in the bandbox. May I ask wha't kind of food you 
like? I should suppose angel food would go to 
the wight spot.” 

Happily for Lack-of-appetite’s feeble self com¬ 
mand, she did not see the compliment, but innocently 
faltered when induced by the narrator: — 

“I do not care for angel food. Lilian tried to 
make some, but only very flat it rose in the oven, 
and it stuck to our fingers and tongues when she 
gave it to us, for the teachers could not eat it.” 

Lack-of-appetite glanced appealingly at the nar¬ 
rator to see if she might cease her efforts, but 
received a tenderly encouraging refusal, so she 
wavered on: — 


PLAYING STAGE-COACH. 265 

“Very many times a day and night could I eat 
dried currant pie, but the government will not issue 
dried currants, and — and they do not come in the 
mission boxes.” 

The narrator gave the little shy maid an approv¬ 
ing look, and granted her a breathing spell. 

“ Nervous Prostration ” : — 

“Ah, curwent ewents! Is there nothing else 
within your reach to tempt your slender appetite?” 

“ Lack-of-appetite, with her eyes upon the bon¬ 
bon box ”: — 

“ As many times as I could eat dried currant pie, 
I could eat candy — and the kind I like best is in a 
pretty white box, with a nice little ribbon tied in a 
bow on top.” 

“Nervous Prostration was delighted to have 
found some means of bribing the attractive little 
beggar’s slender appetite, and he at once passed 
the candy. He now inquired of Sleeplessness” : — 

“If I may be so bold, are you a combined cur¬ 
went and candy fiend? Ah, pardon me, I should 
say suffewer, like your fwiend?” 

“ ‘ No,’ replied Sleeplessness” — 

Inez caught her breath, unable to give out a 
sound. 

“ But with that simple little word she was obliged 
to stop,” filled in the narrator, “ as she had a 
monstrous chocolate fish upon her tongue, which 


266 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


checked her powers of speech. She smoothed out a 
dimple in one cheek by stowing the fish away be¬ 
neath it, and so relieved her tongue that she was 
able to go on ” — 

The narrator smiled cheeringly at Inez and she 
tottered forth with this reply : — 

“ No; I eat very big all kinds of things, but at 
night I cannot sleep. There was a ghost walk, 
very too hideous indeed, and I am very ’fraid it 
will get into the dormitory and pull my mouth and 
eyes crooked, so I stay awake.” 

The narrator raised her eyebrows in amusement 
at this singular cause of wakefulness, and called 
on Nervous Prostration to discuss the subject. He 
did not respond, and after waiting a sufficient time 
she thus explained his silence : — 

“Nervous Prostration was so filled with sym¬ 
pathy for the little sufferer from a tortured fancy, 
that he found himself unable to renew the conver¬ 
sation. To relieve his sensitive nature of its weight 
of pity, he addressed his next remark across the 
space to Asthma.” 

Here Clark pulled himself together with a vio¬ 
lent effort. 

“May I ask, madam, if you have undertaken 
this perwilous journey to twy the westowative pwop- 
erties of the owiginal Fountain of Youth, discov¬ 
ered by Ponce De Leon, which the land agents 


PLAYING STAGE-COACH. 267 

have unearthed at the health wesort to which we 
are flying with the speed of a cannon ball ? ” 

“ Asthma did not resent this pointed allusion to 
the crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes, but 
answered ” :— 

Lilian demurely met the emergency thus :— 

“ Oh, yes, of course I shall try to get young 
again, but first I shall have to try to get board¬ 
ers.” 

“Nervous Prostration looked at the bandbox 
and preserved a noncommittal silence for a time. 
When he spoke, it was to this effect”:— 

“No use to bathe in the Fountain of Youth 
with a howling mob of boarders on your hands. 
They’ll bweak new furwows in your forehead with 
a double-gang plow.” 

“In view of the cargo in the bandbox, no one 
offered to engage board of Asthma. After all the 
fear and trembling of the passengers, the stage 
arrived safely at the springs, and the passengers 
shook hands for joy with Jack when he had un¬ 
locked the door and said ” :— 

“It’s the padlock that has fetched ye safe an’ 
sound. The road agents know it ain’t a bit o’ use 
ter fool with a padlocked stage, an’ the mules 
understand the matter jest as well as the road 
agents, an’ know they ain’t agoin’ ter have the fun 
o’ killin’ any more invaleeds. Ye can thank the 


2 68 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


padlock that ye hain’t been run away with an’ 
robbed fer all that’s out.” 

Before the military party left the mission, Lilian 
drew Mrs. Frisbie to an alcove in the teachers’ hall 
to tell her of her treasure. Mrs. Averill had put 
the things into a side drawer of a little cabinet in 
the alcove, and had given Lilian the key. 

“Why, the dear little relics,” Mrs. Frisbie said, 
examining the things with tender interest. “ What 
a sweet little bertha,” holding up the collarette, 
“ such dainty lace and work. What a comfort 
they will be to you.” 

“Yes,” said Lilian; “I’m glad I found them, 
though they don’t prove anything except that I am 
not an Indian.” 

“ Why, you funny little captive ! Did you think 
you were an Indian? ” exclaimed the bride, in great 
amusement. 

“ Mr. Averill made me sure I wasn’t, but I 
couldn’t prove it till now. Clark thinks they prove 
that I was not a settler’s child, but I’m not sure of 
that.” 

“ Well, at any rate, you weren’t a little foreign 
emigrant in wooden shoes,” laughed Mrs. Frisbie. 
“ And 4 darling ’ is straight English.” 

She took the pin and looked at it more closely. 
Then a dreamy spell came over her. 

“I’m trying to think where I have seen a pin 


PLAYING STAGE-COACH. 


269 

resembling this,” she said. 44 Strange what fancies 
one will have. I seem to see myself a very naughty 
little girl, coveting the blue pin that my baby cousin 
wears, to pin the collar on my doll. I rob her of it, 
and refuse to give it up, and nurse is forced to 
stand me in the corner. Uncle Leverett comes into 
the nursery in his uniform, and takes me on one 
knee and baby on the other. He holds me but a 
minute, then he kisses me and puts me down and 
clasps baby very tightly in his arms. 4 Good-by, 
darling, papa’s going ’way off,’ he says. He kisses 
baby, hurries to the door, comes back and hugs 
and kisses her again and again. Then he drops 
her quickly and goes out. Pretty soon mamma 
comes and gets little cousin, saying sadly, 4 Aunt 
Ethel needs her baby.’ There, the memory has 
slipped away, and it seems as if I’ve been imagin¬ 
ing a mournful little story.” 

44 Oh,” said Lilian, seizing Mrs. Frisbie’s hands, 
44 mayn’t I hear more about little cousin and Aunt 
Ethel when there’s time ? ” 

44 Yes; if Lean take you home with me to-night, 
I’ll tell you more, and you may see their pictures.” 

“I would dearly love to go,” yearned Lilian, 
44 but I’d better not till Miss Delaney’s back. You 
know I help oversee the kitchen.” 

44 To be sure ; I quite forgot you were a member 
of the teachers’ force. We’ll have to wait till you 


270 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


are care free. Now, darling, lock the things up 
quickly. We must go below.” 

“ Oh, you aren’t going to call me darling, are 
you?” Lilian murmured, with a rapturous little 
gasp. 

“ Of course I am; you are a darling,” answered 
the delightful bride. 


CHAPTER XIX. 


Lilian’s pursuit. 

T HE missionary had arrived that noon upon his 
long-expected visit. 

Great decorum, seasoned by a cheerful hum of 
industry, had reigned throughout the afternoon. 
Now the after-supper work was finished, and the 
bell had called the small girls to their early service 
in the music-room. 

“Of course the short girls will sing their new 
songs for the meessionary,” Jane remarked to Katy, 
as she came into the back hall from the kitchen, 
with Nancy, Inez, and Louise. “ Meeses Averill 
say the long and meedle-sized girls could go in 
with her, and so they have. But I had to take 
the lamps upstairs, so I got left, and too scared I 
am to go in alone. My new eessue shoes cry very 
too loud, and the meessionary would hear them and 
every one would loo-k at me. I do not know if I 
should dare to go with Leelian or Mees Delaney.” 

The industrial teacher had returned in cheerful 
spirits, having left her mother in a fair way to 
complete recovery, and Lilian was now free from 
any share in managing the kitchen. This relieved 


271 


272 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


her greatly, for the cake and pies and puddings 
must needs be of a successful order during the 
missionary’s visit. 

“We four cannot go,” said Katy. “Mrs. 
Averill asked the large dish girls to take the 
blankets from the clothes-line. Do you know 
where Lilian is? We wish she would go with us. 
She is brave in the dark.” 

“Just now I left her in the short girls’ dormitory 
watering Polly, who cannot sing, with her sore 
eyes, so she go to bed and is thirsty. Very fast 
will Leelian be down to see the meessionary hear 
the cheeldren sing. Ee ! now they have begun, 
and I shall not go in. I shall help you get the 
blankets.” 

Miss Delaney locked the kitchen door, and 
passed into the music-room, and the five girls 
ensconced themselves upon the pupils’ stairs, peep¬ 
ing through the baluster into the music-room to 
feast their eyes upon the missionary, while await¬ 
ing Lilian’s coming. 

“ Ee! his hair is very white and shiny,” noted 
Katy. ‘ ‘ Do you not think it is so nice and 
pretty ? ” 

“Yes, and very much I like his smile,” said 
Inez. “ I always do not think I shall get cross 
again when I see the missionary smile.” 

“And his voice is very k-i-i-n-d,” said Nancy, 


LILIAN'S PURSUIT. 


273 


in a soft, admiring drawl. “ Will you not like to 
hear him say 4 Good night, dear girls,' before we 
march from the large and middle-sized prayers?" 

“ But best I like his sing,” observed Louise. 
“My father sings much louder, but he sings a 
different kind. The missionary has a white sing, 
and my father has an Indian sing.” 

“ I like to see him walk on his feet,” said Jane. 
“ He do not toe in like my father, and he wear 
nice shoes that do not cry like the eessue goo-ds. 
Mees Delaney say he walk with very upright 
deegnity. I ask my brother Thomas what that 
mean, and he ask Clock, and Clock say it may 
mean shoulder braces. Thomas ask him what 
that mean, and he say it is a thing that stays under 
his coat and pinches his back if he get croo-ked.” 

Lilian now came downstairs and readily con¬ 
sented to forego the songs and escort the girls to 
the clothes-yard. They passed outdoors and around 
the back yard to the other side. 

The clear Northern night was radiant with star¬ 
light, and a new moon glimmered in the west. 
The passing loneliness of the untenanted range 
had crept up to the mission doors, giving to 
familiar objects an appearance of remote and 
silent mystery. A white owl, startled from a leaf¬ 
less cottonwood, whizzed low upon the wing and 
disappeared as if dissolved in space. The vagrant 


274 ABOVE THE RANGE. 

cats were skulking to and fro, and one escaped 
with flying leap from out the wood-cart near the 
house. From the hilltop came the barking of a 
coyote, doubtless prowling by the graves. The 
timid girls kept close to Lilian, shying at the pump 
and warily examining the water barrel from afar. 

The lines were some rods from the house, the 
outside of the clothes-yard bordering on the bluff. 
The blankets from the storeroom had been left to 
air throughout the day, as the last feature of the 
house-cleaning process. They were quickly taken 
down and folded, and the girls started for the 
house with them. 

Suddenly they heard a whistling, of the fright¬ 
ful hollow kind which they had heard before and 
vividly remembered. With a throe of dread they 
looked behind, and saw the fiery vision of a pre¬ 
vious acquaintance gliding up the yard. 

“ The ‘ wa-na-gi ’! ” Nancy gasped. 

“ Ee-ah ! the fire-ghost! ” Jane exclaimed. 

The shape pursued them and they fled in wildest 
terror — all but Lilian. She ran a little way, and 
then was nerved to turn and face the fright. 

It stopped as suddenly as she and ceased its 
whistling. 

A fierce resolve to try to solve the mystery 
rushed over Lilian, and she dropped the blankets 
on the ground and started to pursue the shape. It 


Lilian’s pursuit. 


275 

whirled and ran toward the bluff, with Lilian close 
after it in winged speed. 

The little girls were in the midst of the inspir¬ 
ing chorus,— 

“ Onward, Christian soldiers, 

Marching as to war,” 

when the blanket gatherers rushed into the play¬ 
room wild-eyed, blanched, and quivering. They 
shut the door behind them with a panic-stricken 
bang, and braced themselves against it, while the 
audience in the music-room looked out in startled 
wonder at the strange disturbance. 

“ Ee-ah ! it is pooshing at the door,” cried Jane 
convulsively. 

This gave the final touch to the alarm that 
robbed the blanket gatherers of their seven senses. 
They were conscious only of a wild desire to 
escape the ghost which crowded on their heels, as 
they imagined, and they fled still further, even to 
the music-room, Jane leading the stampede. A 
blind faith in the missionary’s power to afford pro¬ 
tection from the horror prompted her to seize upon 
a sheltered spot between that dignitary and the 
superintendent, where she sank down on the floor, 
and heaped upon her head the blankets she had 
held fast in her arms. The other four girls, who 
had dropped their blankets on the play-room floor, 


27 6 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


sank weakly on a bench, and hid their faces in 
their hands. 

The piping voices of the children on the plat¬ 
form ceased to cheer the Christian soldiers on their 
march to victory, and matters came to a decided 
standstill. 

Mr. Averill arose in great surprise. A stern 
look swept across his face, and he bent above the 
cowering girl and made a quick move as if to 
wrench the blankets from her head. Then he 
drew himself erect and quietly requested Jane to 
rise and uncover her head. 

She obeyed in trembling haste. The startled 
missionary, the astonished teacher, and the breath¬ 
less girls and children saw an ashen face emerging 
from the blankets. 

Mr. Averill perceived that something very seri¬ 
ous had occurred. 

“Miss Hartford, you may carry on the exer¬ 
cises, if you please,” he said; “the girls in the 
room will remember that no whispering can be 
allowed. The five girls who have just come in 
may go with Mrs. Averill and me.” 

The frightened girls were taken to the sitting- 
room and questioned as to the affair. Katy thus 
explained : — 

“ The yellow fire-ghost got after us in the clothes- 
yard, and Lilian chased it very fast indeed. I 


Lilian’s pursuit. 


277 


looked back to see if it was catching us, and I 
think she was very close to it, and just like it fell 
down, though I could not quite see, it was so far 
and my eyes were so scared.” Katy stopped and 
shuddered. “ Ee ! I do not know if it did not 
drag her off. Shall you dare to run very fast and 
see, Mr. Averill?” she implored. 

Mr. Averill hastened from the house and vainly 
searched in all directions. 

Meanwhile Lilian had come in the nearest door 
and passed upstairs into the little room adjoining 
Miss Hartford’s, which was now her own. She 
threw herself upon the bed, burying her face be¬ 
tween the pillows. Mrs. Averill found her while 
the little girls were being put to bed by Miss 
Delaney, and Miss Hartford kept the large and 
middle-sized girls in the music-room. 

“Why, Lilian, Mr. Averill has been looking 
for you out of doors,” she said. “The girls re¬ 
port that there was something frightful in the yard. 
They think it was the same object that was seen 
some weeks ago. Katy says you followed it. 
Will you come with me and tell us about it? ” 

Lilian only shrank deeper in the pillows and 
was strangely silent. Mrs. Averill was much con¬ 
cerned, but she insisted gently. 

“ I think you must, dear. This appears to be a 
very serious matter that requires strict attention.” 


278 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


Lilian arose and went with Mrs. Averill to the 
parlor, where the missionary sat with Mr. Averill, 
discussing the phenomenon which had so upset the 
order of the school. They were much disquieted 
by the fragile whiteness of the young girl’s face, 
and the strained expression of her soft, appealing 
eyes. The missionary drew her to a seat close by 
his chair. 

“ I hear this little girl has been the heroine of 
the evening, daring to pursue the troublesome 
object which the Indian girls believed to be a 
ghost,” he said. 

Lilian made no answer. 

“ Did you catch it, Lilian?” asked Mr. Averill. 

Still she did not speak. 

He waited in a seriously expectant manner, then 
he asked again :— 

“ Did you catch the object which you followed? 
Katy thinks that you were close upon it.” 

She maintained her silence, and the missionary, 
seeing she was suffering intensely, took her hand 
and held it in a soothing clasp. He felt the small 
soft hand grow tense in his. 

“ I cannot tell you,” she replied at length, in a 
low voice. 

“ Then perhaps you didn’t catch it,” Mr. Averill 
said. “ Were you so bewildered that you didn’t 
know ? ” 


Lilian’s pursuit. 279 

She drew a still deeper breath and answered, 
“ No, Mr. Averill.” 

He scanned her white face anxiously, then 
pressed another question. 

“ What are we to think, then, Lilian? That you 
could tell, but you do not choose? ” 

She shook with agitation, but she met the kind, 
grave eyes with miserable determination. 

“ Yes, Mr. Averill,” she replied. 

The superintendent and his wife were greatly 
troubled by this strange behavior in their favorite 
pupil, and the missionary, who had watched her 
growth from childhood, and had always known 
her as a sweet and gentle little maiden, was as much 
perplexed as they. 

“ My child,” he urged, “it is your duty to re¬ 
spect the wish of Mr. Averill, and tell him all 
you know of this affair. You understand, without 
doubt, that the welfare of the school requires that 
it should be explained, but that you may compre¬ 
hend the case more fully I will tell you that a most 
unfortunate report has gone among the superstitious 
parents that a specter, much more frightful than the 
ordinary ghost-walk of the Indian’s imagination, 
haunts the mission. They suppose the lock of hair 
which has been given you to keep is causing it, and I 
am told that some have said they should withdraw 
their children from the school if it appeared again.” 


28 o 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


Lilian gave a sudden moan, and drew her hand 
from his to press her handkerchief to her face. 

44 Oh, I am so very, very sorry, but indeed, in¬ 
deed, I cannot tell,” she faltered, bursting into 
tears. 

Mrs. Averill looked at Mr. Averill beseechingly 
in Lilian’s behalf. 

“Well, Lilian, we will not urge the matter any 
more to-night,” he said. 44 When you have rested 
and recovered from the shock, I hope you will feel 
inclined to speak more freely.” 

Mrs. Averill went with Lilian to her room. She 
tucked her into bed and kissed her good night, 
saying: — 

44 Go to sleep, dear, right away. I shall be in 
on tiptoe through the night to see if you are rest¬ 
ing well.” 

Lilian clung about her neck a moment, then she 
dropped her arms and turned her face into the pil¬ 
low. 

44 I am at a loss to understand the child,” the 
missionary said, when he and Mr. Averill were 
left alone. 

44 I can conjecture but one reason for her silence,” 
Mr. Averill said, 44 and I am loth to think that 
possible.” 

His face grew stern as he reflected. 

It was now the middle of the evening, but Mr. 


Lilian’s pursuit. 


281 


Averill got out his horse and rode to the boys’ 
school. He returned with no solution of the mys- 
tery. 

Lilian did not leave her room next morning, and 
Miss Hartford sat in Mrs. Averill’s place at break¬ 
fast. She was plied with questions after prayers 
as to Lilian’s and Mrs. Averill’s absence, and she 
told the girls that Lilian was unable to appear, and 
Mrs. Averill was with her. 

Jane had rallied from her shock and was about 
her work as usual. Besides her duties as assistant 
lamp girl, she attended to the teachers’ hall, and 
when her work upstairs was finished and she took 
her scrub-pail to the laundry, she reported to a knot 
of girls as follows : — 

44 I smell through the keyhole when I scrub the 
floor by Leelian’s door, and it was seek medicine; 
ver-r-y str-o-o-ng ! And I think it was a bottle of 
pneumonia.” 

44 Kee ! you mean ammonia,” Katy said. 44 That 
is fainting medicine.” 

44 Yes,” said Jane. 44 Then Meeses Averill came 
out ver-r-y sti-i-11, and Mees Hartford walk in on 
her to-o-es; and Meeses Averill tell me to wash 
very soft and not bump the pail on the floor. And 
Meester Averill meet Meeses Averill by the stair, 
and he asks very queek, 4 How is Leelian now, 
Margaret?’ and she say, 4 She have had another 


282 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


spell, but she is now asleep.’ And he loo-k very- 
sad and say, 4 1 hope Dolphus will find the surgeon 
at the fort, and he will not deelay coming.’ And 
she say, 4 1 hope so. I fear it is the brain, Her¬ 
bert.’ And he say, 4 It may be the heart.’ Then 
I hear very loud screaming, and I do not know if 
it was Leelian, and her brain or her heart was so 
pained, or Bertram, and Julia Four Bear was scrub¬ 
bing his face too hard, for it was daubed with syrup. 
And the meessionary meet Meester Averill in the 
hall, and he say, 4 I trust the leetle girl is better,’ 
and Meester Averill say, 4 We cannot quite tell, but 
she is now asleep. It was a very hard shock.’ 
They all talk very low, and think I do not hear, 
but I have very sharp ears.” 

44 Lilian was more shocked than we because she 
chased the ghost,” said Katy. 

44 1 wonder if she told Mr. Averill if she caught 
it,” Inez said. 

“No; she would not tell,” disclosed Jane. 

4 4 Julia Four Bear say she go to the parlor last 
night for Meeses Averill, for Bertram want her, 
and she stop at the door, for she was very too ’fraid 
to go in. And she hear the meessionary talk very 
kind and try to make Leelian tell. But she say, 

4 1 am very, very sorry, but eendeed, eendeed I can¬ 
not tell.’ And she cry very hard. And Julia do 
not know if they ponished Leelian for deesobeying 


Lilian’s pursuit. 


283 


the meessionary, for Bertram scream very loud, and 
she go back and let him tear a picture boo-k and 
he stop crying.” 

“ Of course they did not punish her,” said Katy. 
‘‘ They would not make her sit in the think-room 
at night, and she would go to bed, anyhow. There 
are only those two punishments.” 

“Julia hear the meessionary say our people will 
come and get us, for the ghost is so bad, concluded 
Jane. 

“Very sorry I shall be to leave school,” said 
Nancy; “ but so many times if we are shocked we 
shall lose the mind that is in cur brains, like Lilian, 
and there will be a school of very crazy girls.” 

“Just like I am losing mine now,” worried Inez. 
“ I combed and braided the twin’s hair two times 
this morning, and she did not tell me, for she likes 
to have her head scratched. Then I asked her if 
her hair had been combed, and she said it had 
very lots.” 

“ If they should burn the ghost-lock in Lilian’s 
trunk, perhaps the ghost would walk no more,” 
was Katy’s daring supposition. 

“ Tokee ! you must not burn a wa-na-gi,” Nancy 
cried. 

The twin had stood by, listening with all her 
startled ears. 

Jane’s report, which grew by circulation, with 


284 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


the other full particulars, was carried to the boys’ 
school by Mario, who had been sent by Mr. 
Greely to the mission for a box of school chalk, 
and had talked with Katy and his sister. He in¬ 
formed Clark of the situation on alighting from 
his bronco in the wood-yard. 

“ Lilian would not tell the missionary if she 
caught the ghost, and the girls do not know if 
Mr. Averill punished her, but they say she is now 
too sick to sit in the think-room. It is the shock 
that is ailing her, and they say she lies without 
her senses,” he depicted, as he passed on with 
the chalk. 

Clark’s nerves were of the strongest, but he 
gripped the handle of his axe and leaned unstead¬ 
ily upon it, while the woodpile seemed to be 
revolving. 

Then he dropped the axe and sought an inter¬ 
view with Mr. Greely. 


CHAPTER XX. 


CLARK S ORDEAL. 


N extremely rigorous expression grew upon 



i “V the superintendent as he listened to a state¬ 
ment which Clark made. When he had finished, 
Mr. Greely said : — 

“It may afford you some slight insight to your 
true character to know that Mr. Averill and I 
suspected you, perforce, and I intended to begin 
an effort at detective work to-day. We knew that 
no one of the Indian boys would have the cunning 
or the wish to perpetrate so dastardly an act.” 

He spoke emphatically and sternly, grasping 
Clark’s deploring eyes with his chastising gaze. 

“ No doubt you reveled in the thought that you 
were playing on the nerves of timid, superstitious 
girls, and one not superstitious, but more frail in 
physical fiber than the Indian girls.” 

Clark shrank from this allusion to the little fair 
girl who had suffered from his folly. 

“I repeat,” said Mr. Greely, “that the Indian 
boys would not be guilty of so base an act. It 
takes a white boy to excel and thoroughly enjoy 
himself in playing cruel jokes.” 


286 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“ Not many white boys would have done it,” 
Clark rejoined, in vindication of his race. “ The 
white boys that would like a thing of this kind are 
training for the penitentiary,” he scored himself. 

f ‘You grace the ranks extremely well,” said 
Mr. Greely, with sarcastic eyes upon the handsome 
stricken face. “What caused you to admit your 
guilt? The fear that you would surely be de¬ 
tected?” he inquired harshly. 

“ No ; the thought that I may have killed Lilian 
brought me to my senses. Mario says she is very 
ill from the shock.” 

Clark well-nigh lost his voice. 

“Ah, then you have succeeded quite beyond 
your calculations,” Mr. Greely said, completely 
mastered by his pain and anger. He was much 
inclined to seize the perpetrator of the cruel joke 
and whip him soundly. 

“ I suppose I may go to the mission and explain 
at once,” Clark said, when he had braced himself 
to speak again. 

“You may, most certainly, with me as a com¬ 
panion, lest you escape and the affair be not ex¬ 
plained to the satisfaction of the Indian parents 
who have entrusted their children to our care. 
You will remain here till I am ready. I will have 
Mario saddle your pony.” 

The irate superintendent stepped out, and turned 


clark’s ordeal. 


287 


the key upon the practical joker. Clark accepted 
the situation as his due, and did not chafe at his 
imprisonment. 

An interview took place in Mr. Averill’s office 
in the presence of the missionary. Mr. Averill 
saw from Mr. Greely’s manner that the young 
reprobate had been severely dealt with, and he 
added no upbraidings; but a plan was formed by 
which to thoroughly convince the two schools that 
the specter was a flesh and blood reality, and also 
discipline the offender. 

Clark submitted in a duly contrite manner, and 
accepted with a grateful spirit the benevolent 
counsel of the missionary, who incidentally im¬ 
pressed a lesson on the irate superintendent by his 
charitable mien. 

As Clark was taking leave, he said to Mr. 
Averill, with a sudden falter: — 

“May I ask about Lilian? Mario told me she 
was very ill — unconscious.” 

“Not so bad as that,” said Mr. Averill kindly, 
for the boy’s distress appealed to him. “ She has 
lost herself a little several times from fainting spells, 
but she appears much better, and the surgeon 
thinks we have no cause for serious alarm. Mrs. 
Averill sat by her last night, and the teachers calmed 
the girls by staying near the dormitories. There 
was little rest all round,” he added very gravely. 


288 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


Meanwhile, Miss Peck had put the twin to bed 
for swimming in a tub of water and then rolling 
in the dirt, thereby rendering herself unfit to take 
part in the schoolroom exercises which the mis¬ 
sionary was to hear that morning. 

When the twin was left alone, her mind recurred 
to Jane’s report, and the conversation that had 
followed it, and thus she chattered to herself:— 

“ Leelian is very too seek, and I love her very. 
The wa-na-gi make her seek. Very, very goo-d was 
the great grandmawther, so of course her ghost is 
very, very bad. If they will burn the wa-na-gi, 
Katy say the ghost will walk no more. I shall 
burn the wa-na-gi. It is upstair in Leelian’s 
krunk. Inez’s key will unlock Leelian’s krunk, for 
she lend it to her once next year when Leelian 
lost her key. Inez’s key will be steeking out of her 
krunk. I shall get Inez’s key and unlock Leelian’s 
krunk.” 

The twin crept out of bed and pattered to the 
closet where the key was in the lock. She took it 
and went through the middle and south dormitories 
to the attic stairs. She climbed them fearlessly, 
and groped her way into the long, dim attic. She 
had visited the place before with Lilian and Inez, 
and she knew the trunk. When she came upon it 
she unlocked it and ransacked the contents, light¬ 
ing on the ghost-bag she had heard the girls de- 


clark’s ordeal. 


289 

scribe. Her eyes were now accustomed to the 
dusk, and she was able to inspect the bag with care. 
To make sure that she had the sacred relic, she 
opened Lilian’s plush workbox and took out a little 
pair of scissors, cut the bag, and found the hair, 
then she locked the trunk and pattered down-stairs. 

There had been a fire in the middle dormitory 
stove, and Alomina took the poker and threw back 
the door, and laid the ghost-bag on the brands. 
She sniffed the odor of the burning hair exultantly. 

“Now I shall go and tell Meester Averill and 
the meessionary.” 

She invaded the office just in time, for Mr. 
Averill and the missionary were about to leave it 
for the schoolroom. She was taken on the mis¬ 
sionary’s knee and given due attention. 

“ Of course I am in bed when it is very day¬ 
light, for I play in the water and I roll in the dirt, 
so I spoil the preety new dress I wear thees morn¬ 
ing, for the meessionary is here. So I must be 
ponished. And I go upstairs, and I get the wa- 
na-gi out of Leelian’s krunk, and I poot it in the 
stove. And it burn. And— and — it smell very. 
Now the ghost will walk no more. Ve-r-r-y 
st-e-e-11 in her grave will the great-grandmawther 
lie. And very fast will Leelian get well. Now I 
have tell you a nice story about the wa-na-gi, and 
back to bed I shall go and be ponished.” 


290 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


She slipped from the missionary’s knee and 
made a quick retreat. 

44 No doubt she has done as she says,” said Mr. 
Averill; 4 4 the weird little gipsy seldom makes 
mistakes.” 

44 It is well if the troublesome lock has been 
burned by accident,” the missionary said. 

Mr. Averill stepped into the dormitory and con¬ 
vinced himself that the lock had really been de¬ 
stroyed. A remnant of the bag was shriveling on 
the brands, and a mingled odor from the contents 
filled the dormitory. He moved the remnant to a 
hotter place, then closed the stove door and raised 
the window. He retired in relief. 

When Lilian awoke, Mrs. Averill was by her bed. 

44 It is all clear about last night’s affair,” she 
hastened to relieve the little sufferer’s mind. 
44 Clark has been over to explain, and he will tell 
the two schools, who will meet here with the 
teachers after dinner for the purpose.” 

44 Oh, poor Clark,” said Lilian, knowing well 
the ordeal it would be. 

44 Rather poor Lilian and poor Indian girls,” 
substituted Mrs. Averill. 44 Don’t worry, dear,” 
she laid a soothing hand upon the quivering eye¬ 
lids, 44 he will learn the hard lesson well, and be 
the better for the discipline.” 

The gathering in the schoolroom was quietly 


clark’s ordeal. 


291 


effected, and the pupils had no inkling of its ob¬ 
ject. They supposed, however, that the mission¬ 
ary was to talk to them, and he did — concerning 
the mistake of a belief in ghosts. When he had 
closed his brief but earnest talk, Clark was sum¬ 
moned to the platform by a look from Mr. Averill. 
He had made no notes of what he wished to say, 
but he spoke with readiness, although there was a 
noticeable absence of his usual robust color. 

“ I’m very sorry to say that I’ve been frightening 
the girls by playing ghost with a Jack-o’-lantern,” 
he began. 

“Tokee!” was the astonished whisper through 
the room, betokening that he had riveted the quick 
attention of the pupils. 

“ I don’t suppose the girls and boys have ever 
seen a Jack-o’-lantern, for there haven’t been any 
pumpkins till this fall since I’ve been here, owing 
to the long drought,” he digressed a little to remark. 
“A Jack-o’-lantern is made by digging out the in¬ 
side of a pumpkin and cutting holes for the eyes 
and nose and mouth, and there’s a light inside to 
make it look as if it had a fiery face. I shall illus¬ 
trate presently,” in a slightly discoursive tone. “ I 
dressed up in a sheet, and held the Jack-o’-lantern 
on a stick to make it look like a head, and bent 
over when I walked, and whistled by blowing into 
a bottle.” 


292 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


There was another whisper of surprise at these 
inventions of a frightful nature, which the Indian 
girls and boys had never heard of. 

“ Since the first night I played ghost I’ve had 
the Jack-o’-lantern wrapped in the sheet and hidden 
under the old log barn down on the range. The 
first time I had a good chance, for I had been in¬ 
vited here to a social,— and that’s the way I abused 
the mission’s hospitality. The other boys weren’t 
here, and the teachers of the boys’ school thought I 
was spending the evening here and behaving my¬ 
self. Last night they thought I was studying In 
my room, but I locked the door and climbed out on 
the roof of the ell and went down the fire-escape, 
and raced over and back, and was studying again 
when Mr. Greely knocked on the door after Mr. 
Averill came. I thought if any one knocked while 
I was gone and tried to look in, they’d think I’d 
locked my door to take a nap, or something else.” 

He told in a few words, though he could scarcely 
trust himself, how he stumbled into a post-hole, 
and was caught by Lilian, how he hurried down 
the bluff and jumped upon his pony, racing down 
the flats and then across the prairie. He concluded, 
with a penitent look at the missionary: — 

“ I thought it would be great fun to disturb the 
school by playing ghost when the missionary was 
here, and I couldn’t get rid of the idea, though I 


clark’s ordeal. 


293 


knew it was very rascally. I’m sorry, as I said 
before, and I ask the missionary, and Mr. Averill, 
and Mr. Greely, and all the teachers, and the 
girls and boys, to forgive me.” 

As Clark finished his confession he stopped to 
take breath, gathering strength for the remainder 
of the ordeal. There was the deepest silence in 
the schoolroom. Added to the girls’ and boys’ 
surprise at his disclosure was their wonder at his 
most unusual manner, and their admiration of his 
power to extemporize upon so grave a subject on 
the public platform. The industrial teacher, who 
had wept at Clark’s erratic cookery, now wiped 
her eyes in sympathy for his affliction. 

When the girls and boys had been prepared for 
the peculiar exhibition, Clark produced the Jack- 
o’-lantern, to convince them quite beyond a doubt 
of their delusion. He had made a new one for 
the purpose, as he had destroyed the one with 
which he had performed the masquerade, having 
finished his career as a practical joker in the spec¬ 
tral line. 

The sculptured pumpkin that had wrought such 
mischief was concealed beneath a shawl upon the 
floor beside the organ. The eyes were all agog 
to see the curiosity, but when it came forth, with 
its staring eyes and yellow skin, scraggly yellow 
teeth, a flash of the delusion struck the girls anew, 


294 ABOVE THE RANGE. 

and they recoiled in momentary fright. Jane lost 
herself and cried excitedly :— 

“Ee-ah! Tokee ! the fire-ghost’s haid ! Leelian, 
catch it and they cut it off and poot it on a steek.” 
She sprang up in alarm. 

“Sit down, Jane, and be quiet,” Mr. Averill 
requested calmly. 

Clark struck a match and lit the candle inside, 
explaining with another discoursive touch: “The 
Jack-o’-lantern does not have the same appearance 
in the daytime as at night, because the light does not 
show off so well — I should say ill.” 

Then came the climax of the fearful ordeal. 
Clark put on the sheet, adjusted the Jack-o’-lan- 
tern, bent himself and walked across the stage, 
whistling in the bottle. 

He' emerged as soon as possible, and with an 
unexpected movement dropped the Jack-o’-lantern 
on the sheet upon the floor and desperately 
stamped upon it, crushing it to piecemeals. Then 
he mopped the perspiration from his face and took 
his seat. 

Mr. Averill then arose. 

“ It is now all explained, and the girls and boys 
are sure there is no ghost,” he said. “ I think we 
all believe that Clark is sorry, and are ready to 
forgive him. I will tell the girls and boys that 
Alomina burned the lock of hair from Lilian’s 


clark’s ordeal. 


295 


trunk this morning. Alomina is a very little girl, 
and she must be excused for meddling with what 
was not her own. The pupils may pass out.” 

Thus was the perplexing matter of the ghost- 
lock easily disposed of by the twin, and the school 
no longer groaned beneath a burden of responsi¬ 
bility in sheltering it. 

When the usual order of affairs was resumed at 
the boys’ school, Clark was summoned into Mr. 
Greely’s presence. He approached another inter¬ 
view with dread, for he was smarting from the 
wounds he had received that morning. He had 
made all possible concessions, and he bore himself 
a little stiffly as he stepped into the office. He 
was asked to sit, but he preferred to stand. He 
placed himself some distance from the superintend¬ 
ent and respectfully awaited what he had to say. 

“ I was at fault this morning,” Mr. Greely 
soberly confessed, as he arose. “ I lost my temper 
and spoke harshly. I am forced to admit that my 
hasty disposition is a source of great anxiety to me. 
I regret my refusal to accept your acknowledg¬ 
ment, and my distrust of your intentions, and I 
trust, my boy, that you will make an effort to 
forget my bitter words and my severity in turning 
the key upon you.” 

Clark was moved to double penitence by this 
unlooked-for friendliness. 


296 ABOVE THE RANGE. 

“ I deserved it all, and much more,” he answered, 
struggling to command his voice. “ It would not 
be easy to express my own opinion of myself. I’ve 
been allowed more liberty than the Indian boys, 
and I’ve abused your trust and proved myself more 
unreliable than they.” 

“We are satisfied with the reparation you have 
made, and I shall continue to trust you,” Mr. Greely 
said. 

He laid a kindly hand upon Clark’s shoulder, 
and the boy passed out. 

When he had shut himself into his room, Clark 
stood before his mother’s photograph upon the 
mantel for a little. Then he sat down by the table. 
His geometry lay open, and he leaned his arm 
across the book and dropped his head upon it. 
When he raised his face the page was wet with tears. 

Lilian did not leave her bed for days. When 
she was able to sit up without the singular dizziness 
which had attended her prostration, she was by the 
window in the afternoon, while the girls were all 
in school. The entertaining school baby kept her 
company. He was sitting on the broad arm of her 
easy chair, and they had their heads together look¬ 
ing from the window, when she saw Clark riding 
up. She drew back roguishly, and peeped behind 
the muslin curtain to observe his movements. 

There appeared to be no watcher all along the 


clark’s ordeal. 


2 97 

line, and he stopped his pony at the fence below 
her window, looking up. His anxious face struck 
pity to her heart. She suddenly bent forward and 
disclosed herself, and smiled and waved her hand. 
He whirled his hat and tossed it in the air, and 
thereupon displayed a little rubber ball, imploring 
her by signs to raise the window. She assented, 
and he said in undertone: — 

“ Ho, Lily! Overjoyed to see you up. Any 
one there but you and Bertie ? ” 

“ No,” she said. 

“ Then catch the ball. There’s something in it. 
No, you’ll miss it. Let me throw it in.” 

Lilian drew aside and he threw the ball into the 
room. It landed on the floor. 

“ I’ll have to shut the window now. Good-by,” 
she called softly. 

“ Wait a wink,” he said, and looked about on all 
sides. 

“Ho, Bertie! catch this,” he exclaimed in 
smothered tones, and threw a cautious kiss. 

Then he raced away. 

Bertram brought the ball, and Lilian found a 
little note had been slipped through an opening 
into it. She read it with a deal of sympathy. 

A 

“Poor Little White Lily: — 

“ I’m a double-dyed villain of the blackest hue. 


298 ABOVE THE RANGE. 

The dictionary fails to describe my remorse. I 
don’t expect you to approve of me, but try to for¬ 
give me just a little bit. Don’t answer. Corres¬ 
pondence not allowed. Show this to Mrs. Averill 
if your conscience pricks. 

“ Wretchedly yours, 

“ Clarkson.” 

Mrs. Averill came in presently and heard sur¬ 
prising news from Bertram. He revealed it in the 
dialect of his little Indian nurses, who were very 
proud of their success in teaching the school baby 
to express himself. 

“ Leely poosh up weendow. Clock throw ball. 
Clock throw Bertram kees. Leely get paper out 
of ball. Leely read paper.” 

“ Oh, you precious little reporter!” Lilian ex¬ 
claimed, giving Bertram a delighted hug. “But 
I was going to show it to the white mother, any¬ 
how. Clark said I might.” She gave the note to 
Mrs. Averill. 

“You may keep it as a bit of confidence belong- 
ing to yourself,” said Mrs. Averill, returning it un¬ 
read. “We think it not best to have the boys and 
girls write notes to one another, but, owing to the 
circumstances, this may be excused.” 

“ I’m glad he threw the kiss at Bertram,” Lilian 
said punctiliously. “ Our heads were right to- 


clark’s ordeal. 


299 


gether, and I couldn’t quite have told, if he hadn’t 
called baby’s name. Of course it would have 
been against the rule if it hadn’t been for Ber¬ 
tram.” 

“Yes, dear, quite so,” Mrs. Averill answered, 
with a spark of laughter in her eyes. 


1 


CHAPTER XXI. 


ALPHONSO. 

T HE large and middle-sized girls were mostly in 
the sewing-room this Saturday afternoon, fin¬ 
ishing the flannel frocks for winter, which was 
close at hand. The small girls’ sewing class was 
in the schoolroom, interested in a patchwork quilt. 
The little girls, too young to sew, were playing in 
the yard. 

Lilian and Inez were not sewing, as.the last 
stitch had been taken in their frocks the afternoon 
before, so they went upon the bluff to watch for 
Clark and Mario, who had passed the mission 
early after dinner, on their way to the boat. The 
boys had gone across the river to a ranch behind 
the hills, with word from Mr. Greely as to an 
amount of hay he wished to have delivered at the 
boys’ school when the river was frozen over. 

“ There, they are rowing back,” said Lilian. 
“ I’m glad they’re coming, for the wind is rising, 
and the river will be very rough.” 

The wind was from the north, and very keen. 
Lilian and Inez pulled their knit caps close about 
their ears, and buttoned their jackets, and sat 


300 


ALPHONSO. 


3 01 


down to watch the sturdy progress of the boys 
across the treacherous river. 

“When the wind blows hard on the river, and 
the water goes up high and down low very fast, 
my mother says the wind-makers and the water- 
monster are fighting,” Inez said. “The water- 
monster has seven heads, and only one eye in each 
head, and a very too hideous horn right in the 
middle of each forehead. It is so very horrid 
that whoever sees it goes crazy and dies. When a 
boat tips over and the people drown, it is because 
the water-monster opens its seven mouths and 
sucks so hard it draws them in and swallows 
them.” 

“That must mean because there are so many 
dangerous whirls in the river,” Lilian said. “ You 
don’t really believe it, do you, Inez? ” 

“I try not to, but sometimes I do,” said Inez. 
“We were all afraid of the water-monster when 
we went for the wah-kon, but Louise said it was 
because our conscience pinched us. When I am 
with the teachers, I am sure the Indian stories are 
not true; but when I am with the Indians, so very 
hard it is not to think the Indian thoughts. But 
since Clark told about the Jack-o’-lantern, and the 
twin burned the ghost-lock, I am not so scared of 
ghosts.” 

“ I’m glad the lock was burned,” said Lilian. 


3° 2 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“ Aunt Losa was a good deal worried when she 
came to see if the report was true, but Mr. Averill 
talked with her and she felt much better.” 

Inez did not answer, for her eyes were turned 
toward a horseman coming down the river trail. 
She watched him keenly for a little while, then 
she was seized with great excitement. 

“It’s Alphonso! ” she exclaimed, and started 
down the bluff. 

Lilian flew after her, not knowing why. 

Alphonso urged his pony with all possible 
speed, but the animal appeared to be exhausted 
and was limping badly. 

Inez ran to meet her brother, who was riding 
toward the landing, and as he dismounted hastily 
she caught him by the arm. 

“ Ee — Alphonso — why are you so fast and 
pale?” she cried. “Is there danger back of 
you?” 

“ Yes,” replied Alphonso, with a hunted look. 
“Fast after me they come, and Fire Hawk can 
run no more. I wish to reach the fort. Ee — ah 
— the wrist — you twist it and a thing is ailing it,” 
as Inez wrung his hand in terror. “Fire Hawk 
fell top of me and lamed himself and broke the 
wrist. Is there a horse? But there’ll be no time 
to change.” 

Alphonso much resembled Mario and Inez. He 


ALPHONSO. 


303 


was tall, well formed, and agile — every inch a 
bold young plainsman. He was used to wild ad¬ 
venture, but he now looked about in dazed alarm. 

“ Ee ! the bean does not like me ! ” Inez cried ; 
“ I did not get my wish, but I will put it in your 
pocket; it may like you.” 

And she hurriedly transferred the medicine bean 
from her own pocket to Alphonso’s. 

“ Oh!” said Lilian, ‘‘Mr. Averill and Mrs. 
Averill are at the fort, and Dolphus is off hunting 
beeves. Only three teachers and the girls are here 
— but we will lock you in the pantry. Come 
quick! ” 

“No; the think-room, upstairs,” Inez said. 
“ Run, run ! ” 

She seized his other hand, and tried to pull him 
forward. 

“No,” refused Alphonso; “they would raid 
the house and care not. They are drunk on Pix- 
ley’s whisky. I have proof against the Pixleys, 
and they are afraid of me. A very bad police¬ 
man they have hired to get after me, and he is 
drunker than the cowboys. If I should give my¬ 
self up they would take me off and shoot me, and 
he would report he had to, for I was unruly.” 

Inez clung to him in pale-faced horror. 

Meanwhile, Clark and Mario were pulling to the 
shore with quick, hard strokes. They surmised, 


3O4 ABOVE THE RANGE. 

from the excited manner of Alphonso and the girls, 
that some catastrophe was in the wind. 

“If I can get across the river I shall then be 
safe,” Alphonso said. He watched the boys with 
feverish hope. Then he looked about and added, 
in despair, “ But the wretches will get after me, 
there is the other boat.” 

“ They cannot use that, it is leaky,” Inez said. 

She waved her hands in frantic urgency to Clark 
and Mario. 

The boys were in the boat belonging to their 
school. The mission boat, a less substantial skiff, 
quite apt to be disabled, was laid by on the sands 
for repairs. 

Clark and Mario reached the landing in short 
order. 

“ Ho, Alphonso! what’s the rumpus?” puffed 
Clark, scant for breath from his exertions. 

“Do not leave the boat,” begged Inez; “you 
must row right back with him; his wrist is broken 
and he cannot hold the oar. Ee-ah ! they come — 
the beasts that are so drunk — fast after him. We 
see them up the river. Now I hear them whoop.” 

“Aunt Jemima! Hop in quick!” exclaimed 
Clark, straightening his oars. 

“ Tokee! ” cried Mario. “The wolves that 
howl, the hawks that scream, the snakes that hiss 
— all drunk with whisky. We shall see if they 


ALPHONSO. 305 

will catch Alphonso.” And he grasped his broth¬ 
er’s arm to help him in. 

The boat pushed off, while Clark called back, 
“ Run, girls, to the house; don’t wait an instant.” 

Fire Hawk was standing still upon the sands. 
Inez seized his bridle, urging him along the flats 
until a path which led up to the grounds was 
reached. She tied the pony to a post inside the 
fence, then she and Lilian sought the shelter of a 
log pen, perched upon the bluff within the grounds, 
to watch the upshot of the startling event. 

The maudlin party, five in number, reached the 
landing, uttering appalling whoops as they watched 
the boat a moment. Then the sound of shots was 
heard. 

“Oh, they’re firing at them!” Lilian said; 
“ Look, Inez — you have sharper eyes — can they 
reach them with the shots? Do you see Clark sit¬ 
ting up? I think I don’t.” 

She dashed her hand against her eyes to clear 
away a sudden blur. 

“Just then I did not, but just now I do. Ee ! 
see him wave his hat at them.” 

All the shots appeared to fall short, for the boat 
had made good headway, but the party kept on 
firing till they had spent a deal of ammunition. 
Then they rode back to the brush and straggled to 
the ground to tie their horses. 


3°6 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“Why,” said Lilian presently, “they’re going 
back to take the leaky boat, I do believe. I should 
think they’d stop to see if it is safe.” 

“ Tokee ! the whisky will not let them stop to 
see,” said Inez. “ Look, they push it to the water. 
They will load it down with five. The tall, young 
beast that walks with one leg shorter than the other 
is Joe Pixley. And the short one with the red 
shirt is Tobias Pixley. Ee! Joe Pixley gets in 
first! ” 

“ Clark thought the Pixleys wouldn’t dare do 
anything themselves,” said Lilian. 

“ But there is a policeman to excuse them,” Inez 
said. “A policeman can do anything, and very 
hard it is to prove that he has not the right. But 
they cannot get Alphonso. They will sink the 
boat; the Pixleys will be drowned, and I am glad 
— glad — glad ! ” 

She started to her feet and swung her arms in 
exultation as the boat pushed out. Her black eyes 
glistened with a vengeful fire; her breath came 
pantingly between her riveted white teeth and parted 
lips. 

“ O Inez, dear, you mustn’t think such thoughts ; 
they are so very, very wrong ! ” said Lilian, re¬ 
coiling from the wild mood of the beautiful young 
fury. 

Lilian arose and watched the hazardous pursuit 


ALPHONSO. 307 

with Inez, from above the logs. The boat had not 
gone very far when Inez cried ? — 

“Now, three of them are dipping water with 
their hats. Joe Pixley has stopped steering and is 
helping. He and Tobe are not so drunk as the 
policeman and the other two, for the whisky does 
not craze the half-breeds as it does the full-bloods. 
Ee ! I hope the hats are very ragged and will not 
hold water,” with no lessening of the vengeful 
mood. 

“ Oh,” said Lilian, paling at their danger, “why 
don’t they row back very fast? They couldn’t swim, 
the water is so swift and muddy.” 

“ The water-monster will get them ! ” triumphed 
Inez. “I am now believing that there is a water-mon¬ 
ster. I am glad there is. I wish for him to swal¬ 
low them. I hope he will open his seven mouths 
v-e-r-r-y w-i-i-d-e, and suck v-e-r-r-y h-a-r-r-d ! To- 
kee ! how fast they dip ! ” 

“ Oh, there is the sand-bar,” Lilian presently 
exclaimed. “ That is why they didn’t turn back 
— they can reach the sand-bar sooner — they are 
near it,” she rejoiced. 

“ It is quicksand,” Inez said. 

She laughed and clapped her hands. 

“ I forgot that,” Lilian said, with a new anxiety. 
“ Oh, see,” she added shortly, “ they have landed 
and are pulling up the boat.” 


3°8 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


Inez’s fire and fury suddenly subsided into 
smouldering bitterness. 

“You want the drunk beasts to get Alphonso,” 
she reproached Lilian in bated breath; “you 
would not care if they should take him to the 
range and shoot him with so many bullets. Ee ! 
I think that you would like to see my brother lying 
dead and very lots of blood all round him.” 

Lilian shivered, but she passed a soothing arm 
around the girl. 

“ See,” she said, “ the boys have landed safely, 
and Alphonso can go down the trail and cross 
back on the ferry to the fort. If his wrist is 
broken, I am sure the surgeon will attend to it, and 
he’ll be taken care of.” 

“ Ee ! the bean likes Alphonso,” Inez cried, in 
great relief. 

“ The men are getting back into the boat,” said 
Lilian; “ I hope they’ll stay very still.” 

“I am an Indian, and I am not good,” said 
Inez, yielding somewhat to the influence of the 
gentle white girl, whom she loved; “I am very 
black tempered, like my skin. I hate my brother’s 
enemies, but I will try to wish they will only get 
into prison.” 

“Oh,” said Lilian, looking round, “there is 
Dolphus; I will run and tell him,” and she met 
the young farmer at the well. 


ALPHONSO. 


309 


She explained the situation while he pumped the 
water for his horse. When he had filled the tub, 
he dropped the handle of the pump, shoved his hat 
aside, and scratched his head in calm surprise. 

44 That’s the best place in the univarse for them 
to come adrift of,” he observed, upon deliberation. 
44 If the gover’ment could settle all the full-blood 
and mixed-blood rascals onto sand-bars, it could let 
the decent Injuns run, and there wouldn’t need to 
be a standin’ army on the pay-roll to keep watch 
o’ the Injun problem. True, the sand-bars shift 
round consider’ble, but the vagabonds are used to 
bein’ on the move.” 

44 Oh, but they are on the quicksand-bar,” said 
Lilian, much troubled by the young farmer’s un¬ 
concern. 

“The quicker the better,” reasoned Dolphus, 
unchecking his horse’s head. 44 The torpid scoun¬ 
drels need a quickenin’ elerment o’ some sort 
otherwise than deviltry. It takes the average 
full-blood Injun — when he ain’t out on a killin’ 
fracas — till the cows come home to git his foot 
raised up and git it down agin, to make the circuit of 
a step. And the mixed-bloods ain’t much quicker.” 

44 O Dolphus, please do something!” Lilian 
begged at random. 44 Go for Mr. Greely and the 
boys — I’ll run and ask the teachers to dismiss the 
sewing classes.” 


3io 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“ Certainly, Miss Lilian — jest the thing. And 
seein’ that there ain’t no boat this side, and Clark 
and Mario can’t be expected to be courtin’ danger 
from another charge o’ bullets by rowin’ to the 
rescue of the scamps, the two schools and the 
teachers can string out along the sand and cheer 
’em with a sympathetic gaze. It might embarrass 
sensitive nerves in their peculiar fix, but you can’t 
stare a full-blood or a mixed-blood out o’ coun¬ 
tenance, especially if they’ve been imbibin’ freely.” 

Then the young farmer, seeing Lilian’s distress, 
dropped his moderate sarcasm to assure her 
thus:— 

“ If they ain’t too boozy, they’ll hev sense 
enough to set still in the boat and not go circum- 
nambulatin’ round the bar. The boat will hold ’em 
up. The little steamer’s cornin’ round the bend, 
with some army fellers that’s been stoppin’ at the 
agency a day or two — so a cowboy from the 
agency jest told me on the fort road. Very likely 
it will take the scamps on board and land ’em in 
the guard-house at the fort.” 

“Colonel Mayo!” Lilian exclaimed. “Mrs. 
Frisbie told me, when I visited her last Sunday, 
that they were expecting him this week.” 

She ran back to the bluff. 

The sewing hour was just up, and the classes 
heard the stirring tidings from the children, who 


ALPHONSO. 


311 

had gathered round the pump to listen. In a 
twinkling all about the school, including Dolphus 
and the teachers, were upon the bluffs. A game of 
ball was being played upon the other hill, hence 
the boys were not abroad to witness the exciting 
spectacle. 

The little steamer now appeared in sight, whis¬ 
tling a cheery greeting to the mission. 

The discomfited raiders seemed to realize their 
situation and were remaining quietly in the boat. 
Joe Pixley signaled to the steamer. As may be 
supposed, it gathered in the party in short order. 

Clark, and Mario, and Alphonso had descried 
the steamer coming round the bend and had awaited 
its approach. Clark tied his handkerchief upon an 
oar and raised it as a signal. 

The little vessel had its interest excited by the 
two unusual bespeakings, which appeared to be 
connected in a way that needed some investigation, 
and the boys were likewise gathered in. Clark 
and Mario, with their boat in tow, were brought 
across the windy river, which was now too rough 
for rowing, and were landed further down the bank. 
Alphonso passed on to the fort. 

“ All quiet along the Missouri to-night,” Dolphus 
said to Lilian, when the startling event was over. 
“ ’Twas the best circus of the season, an’ the wild 
beasts didn’t git the upper hands. I’ll turn the 


312 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


horses left without their riders through the bars into 
the pasture, and I hope I’ll be here when the own¬ 
ers come to claim their property, five of them, at 
least.” 

Lilian met Clark at the stile as he came to get 
his pony, which was tied inside the grounds. 

“ Alphonso is in luck, for all he has a broken 
wrist,” he said. “The agent happened to be on 
the steamboat with the officers. He’s going back 
overland, and he’ll take the vigilance committee 
under guard. Alphonso has the written statement 
of a member of the cattle-thieving gang telling who 
the guilty fellows are. The writer of the statement 
died last week of quick consumption, at Alphonso’s 
house—he was a sort of relative, and he cleared 
his conscience by a full confession. He had a first- 
rate education, for a full-blood cowboy, but he slid 
back after leaving school. Alphonso shook the 
paper in Joe Pixley’s face, and hinted that the 
British sailor and his sons were on a slippery side- 
hill, and that brought matters to a head. ’Twas 
fun to see how meek the Pixleys and the other 
fellows were before the agent. He’s the king of 
the reservation, and they weren’t too drunk to know 
it. The policeman will lose his government blue 
and brass buttons, most likely.” 

“ Pm glad for Alphonso,” Lilian said. “ Why, 
Clark,” she suddenly exclaimed, “there’s some- 


ALPHONSO. 313 

thing red on your hair! Oh, Clark, did they hit 
you?” 

“Just a skin-graze, Lily. Don’t be scared the 
least bit. The bullet rooted up a little patch of hair 
and skipped into the water. It isn’t necessary to 
consult a surgeon.” 

“Oh, I hope it isn’t worse than you tell me,” 
Lilian trembled. “ That was when we didn’t see 
you sitting up.” 

“Yes; I bobbed in cowardly surprise, imagin¬ 
ing there were a dozen bullets in my skull,” laughed 
Clark. He pulled his hat down low to hide the 
blood-stain on his side locks. 

“ Do come in and let me see just how it is and 
put a plaster on it,” she besought him. 

“No; excuse me, Lily,” he implored. “It 
makes a fellow feel grotesque to have a scary girl 
coddling him, in public, for a mere scratch.” 

The wound was really slight. 

“ I saw Colonel Mayo on the boat. No wonder 
you are all smashed up with him. It’s good for 
weak eyes to set them on a military chap like him.” 

“ I don’t suppose I’ll have a chance to see him,” 
Lilian sighed. 


CHAPTER XXII. 


GOOD-NIGHT AND GOOD-BY 


ILIAN had set her room in order, had dis- 



1—/ tributed the children’s Sunday clothes and 
assisted in the work of dressing them, after which 
she had put on her pretty mission dress and cap 
hi readiness for Sunday school. The bell was 
ringing, and she was about to go below, when there 
came a quick tap at the door. She opened it to 
Mrs. Averill. 

The young matron stepped into the room, taking 
Lilian’s hands and holding them a moment. 

“You are all dressed, looking quite as nice as 
usual,” she said, inspecting her with some sup¬ 
pressed emotion. “Colonel Mayo is in the parlor 
and would like to see you; you may entertain him 
while we are in Sunday school. He wishes you 
to bring the little things.” She kissed her softly 
on both cheeks. “ Go quickly, dearie,” then she 
turned and flitted from the room. 

Lilian did not stop to lay aside her cap, but 
hastily took out the baby things and went below. 

Colonel Mayo met her at the door. He looked 
her over, studying the sweet face, framed in reddish 


3*4 


GOOD-NIGHT AND GOOD-BY. 315 

hair beneath the chic little cap, with deep inten- 
sity. Her cheeks were rosy from some strange 
excitement, and her soft eyes had a wistful and 
half-startled look. 

When he had held her in his gaze for an absorb¬ 
ing moment, with no speech at his command, he 
drew her to his side upon the lounge. 

“ Mrs. Frisbie has just told me of the baby 
things,—you have them here, and I may see 
them? ” Then he took the little package from her 
hand. 

He found the pin and held it up to view. The 
day was cloudy, and the lounge was in the shadow 
of a corner. He rose and moved it forward, sitting 
nearer to the window to inspect the pin minutely. 

“Surely there could be no other of the same 
color and peculiar script, and mended in the same 
way,” Lilian heard him murmur to himself. When 
he turned to her his face was pallid, and the large, 
strong hand that held the little gold bar trembled. 

Next, he took the hair which Lilian had straight¬ 
ened thread by thread and tied into a little smooth 
curl with a knot of blue ribbon. He brought forth 
another little bright curl from his breast pocket and 
compared the two. Lilian saw that there was but a 
shade of difference — her’s was just a trifle darker. 

“There should be a tiny gray lock hidden in 
your hair on one side, a birthmark,” he observed, 


3 l6 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


with difficulty; “if you will take off the cap, I 
will look for it.” 

She removed the cap in throbbing silence, and 
he passed his fingers through the thick, soft hair 
above one temple. 

“No,” she said, as in a dream, “the other 
side.” 

“Ah, yes; my memory was confused a mo¬ 
ment,” then he swept aside the hair from above 
the other temple. There he found the tiny lock. 

In one bewildering instant Lilian was lifted like 
a little child and clasped in Colonel’s Mayo’s arms. 

“Darling, I am papa; there is proof enough. 
Kiss me, baby — little one — my child.” 

Her arms went round his neck without a word. 
The strong man held her face to his and sobbed. 

“ Oh, you sweet, sweet papa, we have found 
each other! ” Lilian said, when she could speak. 
Then she drew a long, deep, blissful sigh. 

When he tried to tell her brokenly of how she 
had been lost, she stopped him with a half-shy, 
tremulous kiss. 

“I know it, papa; Mrs. Frisbie — oh, she’s 
Cousin Mabel! — told me. And I saw her picture 
— precious mamma’s. Don’t let’s try to talk of it 
just now.” 

This was the brief, sad story Lilian had heard. 

The young mother, pining for her husband, who 


GOOD-NIGHT AND GOOD-BY. 317 

was on a campaign against the Indians in the 
Northwest, had journeyed from the East with her 
little daughter, to the frontier post to which he was 
expected to return in middle autumn. She had 
tried to cross the turbulent Missouri to the post at 
dusk, in a small boat, with a trusty oarsman and a 
young lieutenant as an escort, but the little party 
did not reach the other side. The boat was found 
upon a sand-bar several miles below by searchers 
from the post, and it was thought it had been 
swept into a whirlpool by a sudden burst of wind, 
and upset, and all were drowned. Captain Mayo 
had arrived with his command a few days later, to 
be stricken with the news of his bereavement. 

The scene of- the disaster was a long distance 
from the reservation Lilian had been brought to, 
and no tidings of his child had ever reached the 
father; but upon his visit to the school, Colonel 
Mayo had been drawn to Lilian, and she to him, 
by some indefinite influence which was now ex¬ 
plained. How she came to be there was a mys¬ 
tery still — he only knew he had her safe in his 
sheltering arms. 

“ I suppose I have another name,” said Lilian, 
when.they were adjusted to the new situation and 
were talking with composure. “ Miniwanca,— 
Lilian ; I wonder what the other one can be ? ” 

She held her breath in suspense. 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


318 

“ There isn’t any,” said her father. “We were 
so particular, we hadn’t found a name; you were 
simply baby and darling, as I had the pin in¬ 
scribed. We were waiting for the campaigns to 
be over, so we could decide the most important 
matter at our leisure,” smiling, yet with irrepres¬ 
sible sadness, at her look of wonder. 

“ Shall you decide now— and let me help you? 
Wouldn’t it be strange for a grown-up baby to be 
choosing a name for herself? ” she mused. 

“ Suppose we keep the pretty school name? 
You will feel more at home in that.” 

“ Oh, I’m glad,” she said. “ Dear Mrs. Hil¬ 
dreth named me Lilian. Mr. Hildreth used to 
rock me to sleep, papa.” 

“ I’ll telegraph my thanks. I envy him the 
memory of that sleepy little head against his 
breast,” the colonel answered, while he claimed his 
privilege with the wide-awake young head. 

“ I shouldn’t know myself in a new name — in a 
new place.” Lilian held her breath again, thinking 
of the beautiful far-away whither she was going 
with her father. Yet the parting from the dear 
mission was to be — and there was Clark — she 
gave a little start. 

“ When must I say good-by?” she asked, with 
a tremor of the voice. 

“ Within three days. I hope they haven’t 


GOOD-NIGHT AND GOOD-BY. 319 

nursed you into such a brownie of the plains that 
you will dread to go with me,” he said, with some 
anxiety. As yet, he was uncertain just how closely 
this strange life among the Indian children had 
entwined itself about her. 

“ No; the reason why I have to say good-by is 
so happy,” and she clung to him anew. “ Though, 
of course, it will be sad to say it.” 

“ I must take you to the fort at once. Cousin 
Mabel and Lieutenant Dick are waiting very anx¬ 
iously to hear from us. I will bring you back to 
say good-by.” 

“ Well, Sunday school is out. I hear the girls. 
I’ll speak to Mrs. Averill and Mr. Averill. Did you 
tell them you thought I was your long-lost baby ? ” 

“Not directly, but they must have judged it — 
I was in surprising haste,” he smiled. 

Lilian ran upstairs and tapped at Mrs. AverilPs 
door. Mr. Averill opened it. He saw the joy in 
her face, and a responsive joy lit up his own. 

“It is all true, Margaret,” he said, in quick, 
glad tones — “ the child has found her father.” 

He took the fair little hand and led her to his 
wife. 

The school baby sat upon his mother’s lap. 
“ Leely hug Bertram,” he demanded, stretching 
up his arms. 

Lilian knelt upon the floor and hugged the 


320 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


school baby and the young white mother in one 
clasp. The superintendent stood above them, 
looking down with misty eyes. 

“Ruth,” said Mrs. Averill to the middle-sized 
girl who had stayed with Bertram during Sunday 
school, and was standing by in wonder, “ Lilian 
has found her father; he is Colonel Mayo. You 
may tell the teachers and the girls — spread the 
glad news very quickly! Shall we ring a joy- 
bell, Herbert?” smiling through her tears. 

Ruth ran to tell the wondrous news. 

Lilian went into her room to pack the hand-bag 
Mrs. Averill gave her,— ah, how strange the need 
of it! — while Mr. Averill and his wife went down 
to joyfully congratulate the father. 

“You have taken good care of my little 
daughter,” Colonel Mayo said, when the hearty 
hand-grasps were exchanged. “ I shall not seek 
to express my gratitude in words.” 

“ She has been very dear to us,” said Mrs. 
Averill. “ We shall miss her sadly.” 

“ We have tried to guard her tenderly the short 
time we have had her in our care,” said Mr. 
Averill, “ but the credit of her careful bringing up 
is due to our predecessors,^who reared her as their 
own child, from a tiny maid of six.” 

“ Where may I reach these friends with a tele¬ 
gram? ” asked Colonel Mayo. 


GOOD-NIGHT AND GOOD-BY. 321 

“They are at a health resort in California.” 
Mr. Averill gave the address. “Very many 
workers in the Indian cause find themselves at 
health resorts, sooner or later,” he regretted. 

“My niece tells me that this is a memorial 
school,” said Colonel Mayo. “As a slight ex¬ 
pression of our gratitude, we would be glad to have 
you take an Indian child in Lilian’s place, at our 
expense. It will give my daughter great joy to 
provide for her child.” 

“Oh,” said Mrs. Averill, “we will take the 
little wild girl that came from her grandmother’s 
teepe last week, and we had to send back, won’t 
we, Herbert? Lilian shed some sympathetic tears 
because we couldn’t keep her.” 

“ Yes ; the little wild maid shall be the little fair 
girl’s memorial child,” said Mr. Averill, huskily. 

It was very chilly out of doors, and the girls, 
not getting dinner, were assembled in the warm 
music-room, when Ruth brought in the news. 
After the excitement which arose from hearing it, 
there came a thoughtful lull. 

“ Now she will care for us no more,” said Inez ; 
“we are Indian girls — she is a white girl. She 
will go East with the handsome soldier man who is 
her father, and how fast she will be very proud 
indeed.” 

“ She will live in a beeg frame house that is not 


322 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


log, and she will wear a seelk dress all the time,” 
predicted Jane. “ If she should scrub the floor, a 
velvet scrub-rag she would have; but she will not 
scrub, for she does not at the mission, only dust 
the chairs and awther furneeture. Of course a 
velvet dust-rag she will have.” 

“ If we should go to Carlisle, and stop to see 
the big city,” brooded Inez, “ she would see us in 
the road, — no, Katy says it is a street, — and she 
would say to the white girls that were walking 
with her, all dressed up, ‘Tokee! there are some 
Indian girls ; are they not very too funny? See how 
black they are. Do they not walk like rabbits? 
Look! they hang their heads and act so scared. 
Ee! how I hate the Indians ! ’ And she would 
laugh at us, and the other white girls would laugh, 
too.” 

“ Lilian would not laugh at us ! ” cried Katy, in 
warm defense. “ She knows we are just as God 
made us, and we cannot help being Indians. The 
Indians have been good to her, and she does not 
hate them — there are many that she loves. Some 
white girls would be very proud, but Lilian will 
not be.” 

“ O Inez, dear, how can you have such thoughts 
of me?” said Lilian, as she slipped into the circle, 
having entered unawares. She gave a little sob. 
“ But you are only talking, and you don’t believe 


GOOD-NIGHT AND GOOD-BY. 323 

it, do you? I shall always love the dear mission 
and the dear girls.” 

“ Ee ! I do not know if you will,” said Inez, with 
a desolate little cry. “ I am very cross and jeal¬ 
ous, and I do not wish to have you go so far off 
with the soldier father. Never again shall we see 
you.” The Spanish-Indian girl could not suppress 
her tears. 

“Yes, you will, all who go to Carlisle or 
Hampton. I shall go to the schools to see you, 
and I shall love to have you visit me — so will 
papa.” 

“ Ee ! she calls him pawpaw,” whispered Jane, 
in awe. “Just like she is not afraid of the tall 
soldier-man, so soon.” 

“I shall go to Carlisle next year,” said Inez, 
comforted by Lilian’s pledge of eternal friendship, 
and the hope of seeing her again. 

“ I shall go, too,” said Hester. 

“ I, too,” said Louise; “and Sarah says she 
shall go and cultivate her sing, as Mr. Averill and 
Mrs. Averill wish.” 

“ I shall go back to Hampton,” Katy said. 
“ My mother had not seen me since I was a very 
short girl, so she could not let me stay. I sent a 
string to tell her how long I was, but she could not 
quite see how I looked from that. Now, she will 
let me go back. Ee ! how very too nice it will be 


324 ABOVE THE RANGE. 

to visit Lilian ! ” Katy’s soft eyes glowed. “ But 
she will write to those who cannot go,” she added, 
looking round upon the wistful faces of the little 
brown maids who would never be allowed to go 
beyond the reservation. 

“Yes, indeed, such long, long letters,” Lilian said. 

“ I am leetle, but I can spik English,” piped the 
twin, hanging on to Lilian’s skirts. “And I can 
go to Cowlisle. I shall go to Cowlisle last year, 
and I shall veesit Leelian, for I love her very.” 

“ You are much too short to go to Cowlisle,” 
said Jane. “ Only those that are long and meedle- 
sized can go.” 

“ I shall eat very beeg and fast grow long,” re¬ 
solved the twin. “ Then, of course, I shall go to 
Cowlisle.” 

The news went flying to the other hill quite 
early in the afternoon. Clark heard it and retired 
to his room. He locked the door and pulled the 
shades down, then he danced the chairs about, and 
tossed the pillows in the air, and even turned a 
somersault, endangering the lamp upon the mantel 
by the play of his exuberant legs. When he had 
spent his joy for Lilian, he raised the shades and 
sat down thoughtfully. He passed an hour or 
more in sober meditation, then he spoke with Mr. 
Greely, and was soon upon the road that wound 
beyond the buttes. 


GOOD-NIGHT AND GOOD-BY. 325 

The next evening he sat in Mrs. Frisbie’s parlor 
He had brought a roll of little garments — the 
remainder of the baby things — from the ranch- 
house, whither he had gone to see his uncle and 
Aunt Losa. A little gray coat and a lace hood, 
lined with eiderdown, were recognized by Colonel 
Mayo as the clothes which he had seen his little 
daughter wear before he left her and her mother 
with his sister in the East, while he went upon the 
campaign. 

Clark had gathered from Aunt Losa that the little 
garments had been placed in a stone jar and hidden 
in a hole in the bluff-side, and had been removed 
to the ranch-house by Aunt Losa after Mother 
Swift Bird’s death, by her request. 

When Lilian had gone upstairs with Mrs. Fris- 
bie, and Lieutenant Dick had stepped out on a bit 
of business, Colonel Mayo said to Clark : — 

“ I hope, my boy, you understand how fully we 
appreciate your favor in recovering the little things. 
It has saved us a journey to the ranch for the purpose 
of interviewing the Indian woman — your—aunt.” 

The courteous officer, in spite of his intention to 
the contrary, spoke the last word with luckless 
hesitation, and a slight stress. It was difficult for 
him to regulate the thought that this attractive 
youth, of high-bred lineament, possessed a full- 
blood Indian aunt. 


326 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


Clark flushed from chin to temples at the unin¬ 
tentional regret expressed by Colonel Mayo; then 
he held his head up firmly, even haughtily, and 
gave the officer a straight look in the eyes. 

“My — aunt,” he laid the same slight stress 
upon the word, “will be at the mission to-morrow 
afternoon, with the hope of seeing Lilian, of whom 
she is very fond. I am sorry my — uncle” — 
another slight stress—“will not accompany his 

— wife. If you will take Lilian to call upon my 

— aunt — in the — teepe — it will give her great 
pleasure. She is an excellent woman.” 

“ I shall be most happy. Lilian seems very 
fond of your aunt,” the colonel said, with the 
suspicion of a smile. Then the grave look wonted 
to his face came back. 

“ Did you learn anything whatever as to how 
my little daughter came into the Indian family’s 
possession?” he inquired. 

“ Yes,” said Clark, as if in answer to a dreaded 
question; “Swift Bird bought her with a famous 
racing pony, from an Indian who had come from 
another reservation, at a distance.” 

“Was that all you learned ? ” said Colonel Mayo, 
scrutinizing Clark with such intensity that he was 
forced to answer fully. 

“No — I don’t like to tell you — but the boat 
was not upset — by accident. There were other 


GOOD-NIGHT AND GOOD-BY. 


327 


boats on the river — Indian boats. The Indians 
were hostiles stealing down the river. They took 
— Lily — the child — from the boat ” — Clark 
labored for his breath—“and then — you under¬ 
stand the rest. The others were not saved.” 

Colonel Mayo leaned upon the stand close by, 
and braced his forehead with his hands. The fire 
crackled in the grate, the cuckoo clock chimed 
softly, while he struggled with his grief. When, 
at length, he turned to Clark, the boy was startled 
by his haggard look. 

“My little daughter must not know of this. 
How did your aunt secure the knowledge ? ” 

“From her sister—Swift Bird’s wife. Swift 
Bird knew about the whole thing. The man who 
sold him the child boasted of it, but he never told 
the Indians’ names, even to his wife.” 

Lilian and Mrs. Frisbie now came downstairs, 
talking brightly. 

“Was there ever anything more lovely than 
that you are Cousin Mabel?” Lilian said. 

“Yes—that you are Cousin Lilian !” laughed 
the bride. “ You will take my place with mamma, 
and I sha’n’t be crying, on the sly, because my 
dear one is lonely. Why, Uncle Leverett, how 
pale you are ! Have you a happy headache, from 
all the glad excitement? Can’t we help you? 
Wouldn’t you like something?” 


328 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“ Yes,” said Colonel Mayo wearily, as he left his 
chair to seat himself upon the lounge. “ I would 
like to have my two girls on either side, and Clark 
may move his chair nearer.” 

Daughter and niece drew close to him, and took 
possession of his large, strong, tender hands, and 
presently the pallor left his face. 

Clark took leave in time to reach the school by bed¬ 
time. He had managed to convey to Lilian his desire 
to see her on the porch a minute, and as Mrs. Frisbie 
chatted at the door with him, Lilian murmured to the 
colonel, “ Papa, dear, Clark wants to speak with me 
— alone. I’m afraid he wants to say good-by. May 
I please go out on the porch a very little while ? ” 

The colonel was a bit startled, but he was 
unable to resist this first sweet plea for his permis¬ 
sion from his child. 

“Yes, darling, anything you wish, of course. 
But wouldn’t you better see the boy in here ? The 
rest of us can step into another room, if there 
seems to be occasion.” 

“ Oh, no, it’s just for a minute,” she said. 
“ Now the stars shine, and very too lovely it will 
be outdoors,” with a tincture of the speech and 
accent of her Indian mates. 

She wound a scarf of Cousin Mabel’s round her 
head and shoulders, and went out beneath the 
beautiful Dakota sky. 


GOOD-NIGHT AND GOOD-BY. 329 

Lieutenant Dick was sitting near the colonel, 
and he gave a soft whistle as she disappeared. 

“She’s an unconventional little witch — seems 
to run in the family. I hope she won’t lose that 
delicious bit of idiom and accent. If you ever 
get firm with her, colonel, she’ll purl that Dakota 
music in your ear, and you’ll surrender in a 
jiffy.” 

Mrs. Frisbie had gone through the hall into the 
sitting-room, and she now came in with pensive 
eyes. 

“ Isn’t it pathetic that those precious little ones 
are out there saying good-by forever ? ” she ob¬ 
served. 

The colonel stirred uneasily; Lieutenant Dick 
gave another soft whistle. 

“Don’t you believe it” — under his breath — 
“ where there’s a will there’s a way. ” 

“ He seems to be a manly sort of lad,” debated 
the colonel. 

“What’s the matter with Clark? Nothing. 
He’s all right!” laughed Lieutenant Dick, “ since 
the Jack-o’-lantern scrape — comes of a fine family. 
Captain Lathrop knew of them in Wisconsin. The 
father finished his education in Berlin. Invented 
something of importance, but another man stole 
the profits and is getting rich. Clark’s mother 
was superb,” the captain says. 


330 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


“ It’s unfortunate about his uncle,” Colonel Mayo 
said. 

“Very — disappointed hopes—Lathrop thinks 
Clark feels it keenly — he’s a proud young 
scamp.” 

“ So I judged,” said the colonel. 

Clark had borne himself with dignified com¬ 
posure, for the most part, through the evening, but 
he now spoke hurriedly. 

“ It’s good-night and good-by. You won’t see 
me among the mourners that say good-by at the 
mission. I didn’t think the colonel would give me 
a chance to speak to you. I just want to tell you 
that you needn’t be afraid I’ll carry out my reckless 
threat to take to the range or the Bad Lands.” 
He gave a slight laugh at the absurdity. 

“ Oh, that was troubling me,” said Lilian, in 
relief. “I couldn’t be too happy on account of 
it. What will you do, stay here in school? ” 

“Not for ten thousand worlds! The plains 
aren’t wide enough to hold me after you are gone. 
I’m going back to the ranch in the morning, and 
am going East to school in a week or so. Uncle 
Seth has talked a little for the first time in our 
acquaintance. He has been helping father’s part¬ 
ner carry on the infringement case, and they won 
it some time ago. I’ve just found out. The man 
that stole the profits has had to disgorge, and 


GOOD-NIGHT AND GOOD-BY. 331 

the invention is now on a paying basis. Uncle 
Seth says I won’t be forced to adorn the ranks of 
the cowboys from a pecuniary press, and he’s in 
favor of my going to college.” 

“ Oh, how lovely that you’re going East, too,” 
rejoiced Lilian. “ Of course you’ll come to see me 
often.” 

“Not for five years — till I am twenty-one, 
and you are twenty. Maybe not then,” he re¬ 
plied. 

“ O Clark, why not till then?” in startled won¬ 
der. 

“ ’Twill take me all that time to get over being 
cowboyish. Then, if I am graduated in good 
shape, and there is nothing in the way, I’m coming 
to talk with your father.” 

“ Oh, with papa! ” Lilian murmured, with a 
queer little twinge of puzzled jealousy. “ But, of 
course, you’ll talk with me, too. I should think 
so, when you haven’t seen me for five years, ” she 
grieved. 

“ Perhaps, when I have talked with the colonel. 
Don’t forget me, Lily,” pleadingly. “ Yes,— 
forget me if you want to ! ” sternly. “ Now run in,” 
commandingly, “your father will be wondering. 
Good-night and good-by,” huskily. 

In a flash she heard the pony dashing down the 
fort road to the range. 


332 


ABOVE THE RANGE. 


Lilian drew a fluttering sigh, and then she 
smiled up at the stars. 

“ Of course I shall find out where he goes to 
school, and very too surely I shall have him spend 
the Christmas holidays with us,” she told the stars, 
in dulcet imitation of the twin. 

The stars twinkled knowingly. 


W. A. IVilde & Co., Publishers. 



BOVE THE RANGE. A Story for Girls. 
Theodora R. Jenness. 315 pp. Illustrated. Cloth. 
$1.25. 


By 

i2mo. 


An Indian story for girls. A mission school for the daughters of the Dakota tribes 
is most interestingly described. The strange ideas and beliefs of these wild people are 
woven into the thread of the story, which tells how a little white girl was brought up as 
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ERAPH ; THE LITTLE VIOLLNLSTE. By Mrs. C. 
V. Jamison. 298 pp. Illustrated. Cloth, $1.50; 


A most charming and delightful story of a little girl who had inherited a most re¬ 
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violin. The picturesqueness of Mrs. Jamison’s stories is remarkable, and the reader 
unconsciously becomes Seraph’s friend and sympathizer in all her trials and triumphs. 


SvRCUTT GIRLS; or, 

Charlotte M. Vaile. 


One Term at the Academy. 

316 pp. Illustrated. Cloth, $1.50. 


By 


Mrs. Vaile gives us a story here which will become famous as a description of phase 
of New England educational history which has now become a thing of the past — with 
an exception here and there. The Academy, once the pride and boast of our fathers, 
has given way to the High School, and girls and boys of to-day know nothing of the 
experiences which “ The Orcutt Girls ” enjoyed in their “ One Term at the Academy.” 


M 


AL VERN. 
las Deland. 


A Neighborhood Story. By Ellen Doug- 
341 pp. Illustrated. Cloth, $1.50. 


A most attractive and interesting story by a writer who has won a vast audience of 
young people by her stories. Malvern is a small suburban town in New Jersey. The 
neighborhood furnishes a queer assortment of boys and girls. How they felt and acted, 
what they did, and how they did it, forms an interesting narrative. 


L 


ADY BETTY'S TWINS. 

With 12 illustrations. 116 pp. 


By E. M. Waterworth. 
Cloth, 75 cents. 


A quaint little story of a girl —a little girl —who had a propensity for getting into 
trouble, because she had not learned the lesson of obedience. She masters this, how¬ 
ever, as the story tells, and in doing so she and her brother have a number of experi¬ 
ences. 


r 'HE MOONSTONE RING. By Jennie Chappell. 
With 6 full-page illustrations. 116 pp. Cloth, 75 cents. 

An old ring plays an important part in this charming little story. It brings together 
a spoiled child, the granddaughter of a rich and indulgent old lady, and a happy little 
family of three, who, though poor, are contented with their lot. This acquaintance 
proves to be of mutual advantage. 

r HE MARJORIE BOOKS. 6 vols. Edited by Lucy 

Wheelock. About 200 illustrations. Price of set, $1.50. 

A new set of books for the little ones, better, if possible, than even Dot's Library , 
which has been so popular. Full of pictures, short stories, and bits of poetry. 


Boston : W. A. Wilde 6° Co., 25 Bromfield Street. 





W. A. Wilde Co., Publishers. 


WAR OF THE REVOLUTION SERIES. 

By Everett T. Tomlinson. 

r HREE COLONIAL BOYS. A Story of the Times 

of ’76. 368 pp. Illustrated. Cloth, $1.50. 

It is a story of three boys who were drawn into the events of the times; is patriotic, 
exciting, clean, and healthful, and instructs without appearing to. The heroes are 
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r HREE YOUNG CONTINENTALS. A Story of the 

American Revolution. 364 pp. Illustrated. Cloth, #1.50. 

The second volume of the War of the Revolution Series gives a vivid and accurate 
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***OTHER VOLUMES IN PREPARA TION. 


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By Col. Thos. W. Knox. 

N WILD A ERICA. Adventures of Two Boys in the 

Sahara Desert. 325 pp. Illustrated. Cloth, $1.50. 

This story is a fascinating and instructive one, and we cheerfully commend the book 
to parents and teachers who have the responsibility of choosing the reading for young 
readers. — The Religious Telescope, Dayton. 


/ 


r HE LAND OF THE HANGAR OO. Adventures of 
Two Boys in the Great Island Continent. 318 pp. Illustrated. 
Cloth, $1.50. 

The late Col. Thos. W. Knox was a famous traveler and writer of boys’ books of 
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***OTHER VOLUMES IN THIS SERIES ANNOUNCED LA TER. 



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Seawell, author of “ Decatur and Somers,” etc. 272 pp. 
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Miss Seaw'ell is exceptionally gifted in the line of instructing and amusing young 
people at the same time, and many a boy pricks up his ears at the sound of her name, in 
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interest. — Congregationalist , Boston. 


Boston : W. A. Wilde Co ., 23 Bromficld Street. 






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BRAIN AND BRAWN SERIES. 

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r HE YOUNG REPORTER. A Story of Printing 

House Square. 298 pp. Illustrated. Cloth, $1.50. 

If all boys are as interested in this book as the particular boy in our own family, it is the 
success of the season. Dick, the hero, is a splendid fellow, who works his way up from 
reporting small matters to a high position as an author and journalist. It teaches 
lessons of industry, fidelity, and temperance. — Library Bulletin, New York. 

r HE EAST MAIL. The Story of a Train Boy. 328 pp. 
Illustrated. Cloth, $1.50. 

The birthright of every American boy is the expectation that he might some¬ 
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FIGHTING FOR THE FLAG SERIES. 


By Chas. Ledyard Norton. 



A CK BENS ON S LOG ; or, Afloat with the Flag in ’61. 

276 pp. Illustrated. Cloth, $1.25. 


An unusually interesting historical story, and one that will arouse the loyal impulses 
of every American boy or girl. The story is distinctly superior to anything ever 
attempted along this line before. — The Indepe?ide7it. 



MEDAL OF HONOR MAN; or, Cruising among 

Blockade Runners. 280 pp. Illustrated. Cloth, $1.25. 


This second of Fighting for the Flag books takes Jack into a series of exciting 
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chase down the coast, £nd finally is decorated by his captain with the Navy Medal of 
Honor. 

\*0 THER VOLUMES IN P RE PAR A TION. 


r HE MYSTERIO US VOYAGE OF THE 
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3°5 PP- Illustrated. Cloth, $1.25. 

This volume, mechanically beautiful as to type and paper, is an unusually good col¬ 
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are by the best-known writers for young people in the country. — Epworth Herald, 
Chicago. 


Boston: W. A. Wilde 6° Co., 25 Bromfield Street. 







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OREMAN JENNIE. A Young Woman of Business. 
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C AEN THISTLE TOE. 

“Mate of the Mary Ann,” etc 


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. 266 pp. Illustrated. #1.25. 


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IG OVER ESS. By Kirk Munroe, author of “Fur 
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A bright, wide-awake book, as interesting and helpful for girls as for boys.— 
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HILIE LEICESTER. 

of “ Freshman and Senior, 
$1.25. 




By Jessie E. Wright, author 
etc. 264 pp. Illustrated. Cloth, 


The real motive of the story is a lesson for mothers, — that God will be with the 
children of love and prayer, even though they may be passing through the fires of temp¬ 
tation and bad influence.— The Evangelist , New York. 


r 'HE BEACON LIGHT SERIES. 5 vols. Edited 

by Natalie L. Rice. Illustrated. Each book, 96 pp. Cloth. 
Price of set, $2.50. 

A collection of bright, attractive stories from the best-known writers for yo.ung 
people in the Junior and Intermediate classes. 



OTS LIBRAR Y. 10 vols. Edited by Lucy Whee- 
lock. 400 illustrations. Price of set, $2.50. 


Without question the most delightful set of books for little ones. Over 400 illus¬ 
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ELOZIBETS SELECT NOTES. By F. N. Pelou- 

bet, D. D., and M. A. Peloubet. A Commentary on the Inter¬ 
national Sunday-School Lessons. Illustrated. 340 pp. Cloth, 
$1.25. 


w 


rA YS OF WORKING; or , Helpful Hints to Sunday- 

School Workers of all Kinds. By Rev. A. F. Schauffler, 
D. D. 216 pp. Cloth, $1.00. 


Boston: W. A. Wilde 6° Co., 2j Bromfield Street. 







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